Awful Balto Book

Aluewolf15 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:54 am

NonFiction means it was Real, It reallly happened. Fiction means it was made up. Don't get mad.

Gold Wolf · **Posted:** Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:04 pm

Who was the author of Balto,the dog who saved Nome?

(deleted user) · **Posted:** Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:14 pm

Aluewolf15 wrote:

NonFiction means it was Real, It reallly happened. Fiction means it was made up. Don't get mad.

That does not make the book accurate. This another case of some idiot author trying to cash in on the Balto popularity. And, given the author's assertion that Balto was half wolf, it must have come out shortly after the first Balto cartoon hit the theaters.

The research MUST be very poor. And I agree with BlueWolf. One dog would not remain calm if the others were agitated. There WAS an accident with the sled on Balto's team...that's at least ONE thing the author got right.

Most of these books are written with children in mind. What's sad is that publishing companies allow poorly-researched material like this to be accessible to kids...who's learning will be tainted by it. How many members here, after all, once believed that Balto WAS half-wolf, just because of the first Balto cartoon? If it weren't for members "in the know", and this True Story board (and things like the Balto documentary referenced on the main site), people would take what they saw in the cartoon as FACT. I mean, there are STILL members here who think Jenna, Steele, Kodi and others were real dogs!

Highland Wolf · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:39 am

Thats quite incredible that the book is so in-accurate

It sounds like a load of rubbish, something I would get very angry about! It is hard to believe a book like this actually got published.

(deleted user) · **Posted:** Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:03 am

Torchwood wrote:

It's for little children with a big imagination who like to run around BEING balto. :roll:

I showed this film to my friends todler sister and she held that book in her hand the next time I saw her and she said she loved it. She said she wanted a dog and to train it and move to nome when she grows up. Don't get mad, it's for 2-6 year olds. T_T I was 6 when I first saw Balto and I got the book and enjoyed it loads, untill I grew out of it and gave it to my friends little sister.

so it's not for us really unless we're about 2-6.

please don't get mad, the book really is a great book untill you grow out of it.... I read it about 50 times before I grew out of it.

It's after the film about balto the wolfdog aimed at young readers. Do not agree with bluewolf simply because they bought it and say it's rubbish, it's a cartoon-fiction for goodness sake! If you were 3 you'd love it and read over and over, if you're 15(like I am now) you might treasure it from your child-hood but think it's a bit young for you. But hey, it's after the film! Balto rushes to grab the mediceine, the snow suddenly breaks and he falls down along with it.... it's all fiction for the really little children 2-6. Gotta stop saying that. But it really isn't aimed for people from the age of ten. If you're 7 or 8 or something you may still enjoy it, but it will be a bti young since it's for YOUNG CHILDREN, not 10+ year olds! Lemon likes the book and reads it to my friends little sister since she's only 3 and can't read herself yet, she loves reading it because it makes the TODDLER happy. Now come on, you really expect an adult to go out and think "oh this would be good for my 16 year old daughter!"

~Okay so maybe they think that, but it's because of good imagination, I beleived he was part-wolf from seeing the film, then looked everything up about it. I always see a movie and have to look things up about it and the animals inside of the story. Except from cartoon comedies like over the hedge and stuff. That's not atall real like......XD anyways, I hope you understand that it isn't aimed for us people about 10+, it's aimed for the little ones......over there *points to a bunch of pre-school kids playing*

EDIT: I'm 16, acctually. But I'm not used to it since my birthday was near the end of novemember not so long ago.

Torchwood, you're asking me (and the other readers) to not "be angry", and you're also telling me not to agree with bluewolf, and not to say what I said. I'm gonna be a little more fair and understanding in my response than you were in yours.

First of all, bluewolf's post gave no indication whatsoever that this book was about the movie. Being someone who cares a great deal about history, and that it is always treated with respect, I reacted the only way I knew how given the information presented to us.

In the end, it changes nothing about how I view this book, no matter which age group it's aimed at. Unless it is specifically meant to be (and is presented as) a "movie book", then it is selling the movie as being accurate historically. And that's wrong no matter who the readers are intended to be. Look how many young people on THIS site (and other Balto sites) think that what was shown in the Balto movie is, in fact, how it happened! Consider also how one member posted in this board, some months ago, about one of those newsstand "Amazing Facts/Amazing Stories" books which asserted that Balto WAS, in fact, a wolf-dog, and NOT a purebred Husky. (EDIT: And she then proceeded to argue with me when I presented her the historical evidence. She maintained that the book was right, and that the historical record was wrong. Er...eeyeah. So you can see how easily the facts can get screwed up by one book. Let alone others.)

Where do attitudes and beliefs like that stem from? Books like this one. And cartoons (or even live-action movies, depending upon the subject matter) which twist the historical truth in the name of "poetic (dramatic) license".

Now, in the future, Torchwood, I would recommend a little less finger-wagging at other members. They each have a right to their opinions (I do too).

(deleted user) · **Posted:** Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:54 pm

sounds terrible. I have Balto the bravest dog ever and I thought that was bad. Now that I own Balto and the greal race I think it is alot better.

Fezzlynn · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:11 am

-chokes author- Why in the world are you calling it non-fiction! it's fiction! -slaps author silly- Balto and the grreat race is more believible. yet too easy. And it makes it like balto was all husky =/ but it says he's a dog wolf mix in ther.

Sushi Roll · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:00 am

Why don't these writers take time and research before they write a book that is suppose to be about a very real sled dog. :roll:

(deleted user) · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:11 am

x_X_Emily_X_x wrote:

Why don't these writers take time and research before they write a book that is suppose to be about a very real sled dog. :roll:

Probably for the same reason that Hollywood generally doesn't. Money. And that they think that sticking strictly to history and historical truths "doesn't sell". Thus, money. How wrong they often are.

Highland Wolf · **Posted:** Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:09 am

BaltoSeppala wrote:

x_X_Emily_X_x wrote:

Why don't these writers take time and research before they write a book that is suppose to be about a very real sled dog. :roll:

Probably for the same reason that Hollywood generally doesn't. Money. And that they think that sticking strictly to history and historical truths "doesn't sell". Thus, money. How wrong they often are.

Yes, your are right there. It's all about the money of course :roll:

But what I don't get, is that even Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling, just made the cut to be published, and this rubbish here was published (though I cannot prove this, but I think it could be right) quickly and easily. Did the publishers even look through it? Or had they never heard of Balto, and actually thought this was the true story? I really don't get that

(deleted user) · **Posted:** Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:17 am

Claymore wrote:

Hey.... that`s good. I have found Czech book from 1946 called Štafeta (Relay), but although it`s author corresponded with Sepalla (!) it`s innacurate and... uhhh... very inacurate. For example he mentioned only 5 mushers, didn`t mention Togo after all and - the most curios thing: According to him,Balto was called after Baltic sea by Sepalla and Balto was according to author Sepalla`s lead dog!!!! OMG!. and Balto was heroized too.

But on the other hand it was written in WW2...

Very reasonable conclusions, Claymore!

Well, you can see the effects of poor research and scholarship on the part of authors, and the willingness of publishers to allow anything for some profit. Especially if they can take advantage of a historical figure like Balto.

Balto, the real dog, WAS a hero, and deserved to be considered such. He was a smart, brave dog. But the facts about each dog, and the participants in the serum run, have been posted here (by myself and others who have done their research), and have been used by the better and more ethical authors who wrote great books about the serum run!

I don't know if it was ever translated into other languages, but the book "The Cruelest Miles" is the penultimate resource, in printed form (and still IN print) for learning about the serum run, the events leading up to it, and the stuff that happened afterwards! You should try to get it!

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Awful Balto Book