here celebrating without a care in the world. 

At that moment it hit me, how wrong have I been. I should have been greedy. With that realization, I rounded up my fellow sled dogs and went off to look for both my dad, and the pilot. We found them just in the nick of time. If it weren’t for my mom, I would not have done this. If it weren’t for her, both the pilot and dad, would have fallen off the edge of a cliff. The saying is indeed true, Mother knows best.

Swimming Classes

By: Muk and Luk

Water, hate to admit it but both me and Luk are afraid of it. We are hydrophobic just to make it short. Like what Luk said, oh the shame of a Polar Bear to fear the water that is why we are shunned by our fellow bear. Woe is us. Sigh……. For a polar bear to fear the water, is just a sorry and humiliating sight. We are embarrassed to even talk to other bears. That is why we go with Uncle Boris. He is so much fun to be with. We absolutely love him, and I am sure he loves us too. (No I don’t! I hate bears! - Boris) Pipe down Uncle Boris, this is our story. Now where were we, oh yes, back to fear of the water. We have always feared it, due to the fact that we feel like we are going to drown in it. This fear soon vanished during one incident when Balto tried to save the town.

We love both Balto, and Uncle Boris, so we decided to come along in the journey, right Luk? (hmm-hmmm - Luk). At first we were just enjoying ourselves, playing around and tossing random snowballs at Uncle Boris. I even scored a direct hit on Uncle Boris’ face. It was all fun and games until, a big black bear appeared and tried to maul us silly. We tried to run, but there is no escape. Luckily Balto was there, he protected us as best he can. But he fell in the freezing lake, and ended up beneath the ice. We knew he was not going to make it, so we did what we had to do. Me and Luk jumped in the water without thinking, because we knew we could lose a friend if we did not do anything. We swam underwater until we reached Balto and then we dragged him on to shore. We did not think about at first, all we thought about was Balto okay? Would he make it?

Balto started to regain consciousness. We felt a huge sigh of relief knowing he was going to be okay. And then he talked to us regarding swimming classes, and how we were going to be able to be good swimmers someday. And then it hit me, we were moving underwater, we were wet, we held our breath…… We were swimming!!! At that thought, me and Luk felt that we could do it. We have conquered our fears. We thought we conquered it once, we could conquer it again. Swimming classes for everybody. Time to stand up to our fears, and face them head on. If we can do it, anybody else can. 

Like father, like daughter

By: Aleu

I know. I know. I should be like father, like son, but I am not Kodi. And besides, he does not look like our dad that much compared to me. I look exactly like him, okay maybe not exactly like him, but I am the one that resembles him the most. I am the runt of the litter, the different one. The one in which no-one liked. No-one in Nome wants to adopt me. I waited patiently to get adopted. One by one, I watched my brothers and sisters get adopted by people who would take care of them.  I waited, and waited but no-one wanted to adopt me. I was depressed knowing that I will never get my forever home. I went home with Balto after a long day of waiting for nothing. I got my hopes up, and for what, just a big bowl of disappointment.

The next day, I was just playing around with Muk, Luk, and Uncle Boris when this person came along. I thought he wanted to adopt then my dad interrupted and knocked the man down. He said that the man was a hunter and that the hunter was going to kill me. Kill me! Why on earth would he do that, I am a dog as everyone could plainly see. That night, my dad straightened it up with me that I am not an ordinary dog. I was a wolf-dog, a freak, an outcast. No wonder why no-one wanted to adopt me, I was different. With my heart torn, I decided to run as far away from Nome as possible. Why should I stay in a place where no-one even like me?

My dad followed close behind me. He cared for my well-being, and that is a comfort to me. We decided to travel together, well actually it was his idea, cause he did not want anything bad to happen to me. I felt so wild and free, for once, no rules, no boundaries, no borders, no walls, no anything that could stop me or disrupt my freedom. That is until we met Aniu’s pack. They are a rather interesting bunch of wolves, however one wolf in particular, Niju, wants to overthrow Aniu as leader of the pack. The pack has reached a crisis, there is huge shortage in supplies that is greatly diminishing the morale of the members of the pack. We had to do something.

An idea suddenly came into mind, we could cross the great water. It is the only way, but Niju thinks so otherwise. But I don’t care about what he thinks, I just want to save the pack. That day came, I could not believe it myself, an ice bridge came and formed itself right before our eyes. It leads across the great water, just like in my dream! The pack immediately began to cross, but despite all this Niju was still against us. What on earth is his problem?  He tried to prevent us from crossing with the pack. And then the bridge began to break, thus separating us from the rest of the pack. Niju was too afraid to make the water crossing and it is not Aniu's destiny to go with the pack, I was faced with a decision, go with the pack, or stay with my dad. It was a very tough decision, one in which both me and my dad are afraid to make. But the pack needs me. My dad understands that, and upon saying our final good-bye, I left to fulfill my destiny. With tears in my eyes, I just howled to the sky.

I knew I found where I belong. I now have a home. So yeah, you could say I am just like my dad, not only in looks, but in attitude. Like him, I also love adventure. Well, like father, like daughter.

Soaring on Eagle’s Wings

By: Duke

Let your dreams take flight. Flying is the wave of the future. When I was young, flying was my dream. I wanted to be able to soar through the clouds, seeing things from a different perspective. When I grew up, my dreams came true, well sort of. I became a pilot of a bush plane. But unfortunately, I did not have a job to do. I needed a job wherein I could fulfill and dream and do something of purpose. I finally found it in the form of the US mail. What better way to deliver mail, than by air. It is fast and reliable. It is perfect, I get a job and do the thing I love the most at the same time. 

I was sent to Nome, Alaska. One of the frontier towns in Alaska, it’s remote location means mail does not arrive in time. I jumped at the opportunity to become Nome’s first mail pilot. It is in that town, I met Balto, a very loving and affectionate wolf-dog. I have heard a lot about him. He once saved the town from a Diptheria epidemic. Quite an achievement I could say. I volunteered to deliver the mail to and from Nome, but my good intentions however were hindered due to the fact, that the sled dogs would go out of business if I took over in delivering the mail. So the mushers organized a race between me and the sled teams. At first I thought, this is going to be easy. This is just another cake-walk. A walk in the park I might add.  Boy did I thought wrong.

The race came, and of course, I took the lead. Arrived first in white mountain, but I got stopped in my tracks due to a heavy coating of snow on my plane’s wings. I scraped of the ice and continued on my trail back to Nome. Unfortunately, weather conditions deteriorated, and soon I found myself in the middle of a snowstorm. So much for a cake-walk. All my flight instruments went AWOL. I lost control of my airplane and began to descend towards earth. I thought, this was it. I was going to die. I prepared and myself for the inevitable impact, then boom……. Everything went blank.

I regained consciousness, to a much welcome sight. Balto was there, he had come for me. I was happy, but then I realized I had broken my leg, and that I could not walk. Uh-oh, this was a problem. But luckily Balto is a strong sled dog, so I tied up a piece of aluminum behind him to make a make-shift sled and he started pulling me to safety. We started to cross an ice bride, when suddenly the bridge started to give way. Oh no!! Run! Run Balto! Run or we’re dead! And at that moment, the dogs from the sled team I raced came to our and rescue and pulled us up. Despite trying to take their jobs, they still came to save me. 

We reached Nome, and I was extremely grateful for Balto, and the dogs of the sled team. They truly deserve their jobs. I owe my life to them. Because of them, I am still here, soaring on eagle’s wings. 

Birds of the Same Feather

By: Boris

The memoirs of a handsome goose. Or maybe even a very handsome goose. Sigh…… I bet those were better titles than “Birds of the same feather”, I know that for myself. I am Boris, caretaker to Balto, as well the Uncle for Muk, Luk, and all of Balto and Jenna’s children. I know. I know. I am a very busy goose, but who is to blame me.

I have taken care of Balto ever since he was a pup. He was really like a son to me. He also reminded me of me, because I too was an outcast. Deep inside, I have always felt I am alone in this world. I mean where have you heard of a goose that can’t fly? I am the only one. So yeah, I know how Balto feels to be rejected by your own kind. I never did see the truth, until now.

We all have a lot of outcasts, due to looks, attitude, or whatever reason it may be. But I know