Chicken Soup for Animation Source

Ran for Life

by: Balto

I never thought I would be the leader of a sled team. I was just an outcast, a wolfdog to which no-one wanted nor liked. I always wanted to be on a sled team, but no-one would want me to join their team. I have always wanted to prove myself worthy of becoming a sled dog, but never had the opportunity to do it. I always felt left-out and alone.

But that all changed one cold December night, when a diptheria epidemic plagued Nome and rendered most of the children bed-ridden and dying. The next day, a race was held, to see who would be one the sled team to save the town. I immediately jumped at the opportunity to prove myself worthy of becoming a sled dog. I stepped up to the starting line and prepared myself for the race of my life. The gun was fired, and the race started. I raced my heart out, and to my big surprise and to the surprise of everyone around me, I won first place. It was a very happy moment for me, for once, I have proved myself worthy of becoming a sled dog, for once, I proved that I could do it. For once, I felt like I was somebody in this world.

Unfortunately, this happiness of mine was not to last. My chances of becoming a sled dog was ruined by Steele, the lead dog of the sled team. I was crushed, all my hardwork in the race of my life for nothing. I really felt my whole world collapsed on top of me. I watched as the sled team that was I was supposed to be in, went away to save the town. I mixture of sadness and anger filled my heart. I thought, I would never have another chance.

A few days later, a telegram came in announcing that the sled team was missing. At that time, everyone, including me was disappointed. We were disappointed about the loss of the dogs, and that the medicine would not make it in time. I thought about the children. Those young souls whose lives will be lost without the medicine. I immediately decided to go forth and look for the missing sled team. Maybe there is still hope. Maybe I still have a chance to not only be a sled dog, but also to save the lives of the children.

I embarked on my journey, having a few mishaps, I finally found the sled team. They have been in an accident, and are in complete disarray. But despite their accident, Steele, the lead dog, would not give up the medicine that easily. I tried to convince him to let me help them, but he would not listen. He fought me, and ended up falling of the cliff. At that moment, the other dogs lined up in their positions. To my complete amazement, they handed me the lead dog leash. I could not believe it! I am a sled dog, but a not just a sled dog, I was the lead dog. I led them through twists and turns, until finally, we made it into Nome. It was a feeling of utter happiness, knowing this was it, you have done it, the children are saved. I never thought I could do it, but I did.

Giving up was the only defeat I have encountered. The real victory was not to give up. I will always remember this moment and cherish it all my life. This is that defining moment in the journey of my life wherein I was able to porve myself worthy. I showed them, that being different does not mean being worthless. I will never forget the time I ran for life.

A Night to remember

By: Steele

The hotshot sled dog, the fastest dog around, Nome’s hometown hero, these were just a few of the nicknames I got as the lead dog of Nome. Or at least, I was the lead dog of Nome, until that half-wolf mongrel, Balto showed up and ruined everything. I had it all: fame, glory, honor, just to name a few. But Balto took it away, or so I thought. 

I regret a lot of things in my life, so many opportunities in I shot down myself, but that did not become more eminent one cold December night, when a Diptheria epidemic plagued the town in which my name so gloriously resounds. A lack of medicine, no problem, all I have to do is lead my sled team just like before. It is no big deal. I have done this countless times already.  I could handle anything.

But suddenly, a race was held to determine the fastest dogs to be in my team. There is only room for the best dogs to be able to run in my sled team. I watched the dogs run, and to my shock, that insolent mutt, Balto came first. I am not going to allow a wolf-dog into my team. It would ruin me! I have a few tricks up my sleeve, and I showed the humans what a threat he is to my team. And with that, we left without him. I felt happy with that.  

We reached Nenana without much trouble. We got the medicine and started to head for Nome. At first I thought, this is so easy, where is the challenge? I spoke to soon. Me and my team were struck a fierce snowstorm, and to my horror, we have lost track f everything. And the troubles keep on mounting, we got lost, we slid down an icy hillside, and my musher got knocked unconscious. This can’t possibly get worse, right? Wrong! Balto showed-up and he asked if he could help. No! No! No! I would not let that worthless half-breed steal the glory which is mine! I am the one to deliver this medicine to Nome, and the glory shall be mine.  Despite my warnings, he still tried to take the medicine, so I fought with him. 

Unfortunately, I ended up falling through a cliff. It was all his fault, everything  I worked hard for will go to waste if he gets back to Nome.  I will make sure that does not happen. I messed up his tree markings so that he could not find his way through the blizzard. After which, I found my way back to Nome. Time to turn this story around, I told everyone I was the only survivor, and that Balto is the reason why the medicine would not reach Nome. This was my most brilliant schemes, it brought me more glory and attention than ever before.

That was to be short-lived however, when Balto, and the sled team I was supposed to be leading came rushing into town. At that moment, I said to myself “What have you gotten yourself into?”. Everyone turned against me, I lost all my friends, everyone hated me. Sadness filled my heart as everyone left. It is at that moment, I realized the kind of pain that Balto felt for being different. At that moment I realized my mistakes. I realized, that I was not running for my glory, but was running to save the lives of dying children. I am so sorry, Balto. I am so sorry, Nome. I still hope I could gain the acceptance of the town in which I betrayed.  This night is a night to remember. The night in which I have lost so much, but gained much more.

Mother knows Best

By: Kodi

I am a rookie sled dog, just beginning to learn the tools of the trade but I love my job dearly. My father, Balto, was the fastest dog in Nome, and not to mention a hero. He saved the town of Nome from a diphtheria epidemic long before I was born. My mother, Jenna, keeps telling me how my father was among the best dogs in town, despite being a half-breed. Oh well, like father, like son. My mom always tries to tell what to do ever since I was young. What is good, and what is bad, I already know this stuff. She does not need to tell me twice. 

All was good, me and my sled team always get the job down, despite being late a couple of times. Okay, scratch that, make than most of the time. The US mail’s motto is “Neither snow, nor rain, nor sleet, nor hale, could stop the US mail.” But my fellow sled dogs just said that being late is okay, better late than never. And besides, they can’t replace us, we are the only ones capable of delivering mail through the snow over great distances. It is not like we are going to see wolves, or humans being pack mules and running those great distances. 

Unknown to us, a dark cloud is starting to head for our small little town in the form of a flying winged beast, known as a bush plane. That airborne monstrosity along with its pilot arrived in Nome, and volunteered to deliver the mail. In other words, they want to take our jobs. This is the only reasonable thing I do with my life, I love my job, I won’t let them take it. 

We spied on the conversations of the humans, and we soon heard that a race will determine who would deliver the mail to Nome. This is excellent, we would show that pilot and his flying monster what we are made off. We would prove that dogs are faster than planes. But my dad thinks so otherwise, he thinks the plane would beat the sled dogs hands down. After convincing him how much my job meant to me, he finally agreed to run with us.  

The day of the race, everyone is tense. We knew this would be the race of our lives, our jobs and our futures depended on it. The race started and the plane immediately took the lead. Despite that, we never gave up hope. We reached the target town and left, just before the plane takes-off. We are in luck. We are ahead of the plane for once. We are winning. But then we heard the plane overhead. And we thought it is all over. We reached Nome expecting defeat, but then we realized the plane was not there. We had won. We won! The job is still ours. We kicked the tail out of that plane and its pilot.

All of a sudden, we received word that plane crashed, all the more reason to celebrate. But my dad thinks so otherwise; he says we should try to rescue the pilot. How about no, dad. He tried to take my job, serves him right. My dad went off to look for the pilot, without me. I did not think about at first, I was just so happy that I am still a sled dog of Nome. 

But then, my mom came in. I told her that my dad went off alone to look for the pilot. Then she scolded me for not going with my dad. I said that I could have lost my job because of that pilot. With that she got really disappointed, and told me that my job is more important than a life. She said that there a person out there, dying in the cold, while I am in 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 this, everyone is different in many ways. Some in good, others in bad, but that is what makes us unique. This is called individuality. Just like me, a goose that can’t fly, or Balto, the half breed, or maybe even Muk and Luk, the two polar bears who fear the water. Here is the thing, I you strive to be like others, then who are you? You should be yourself, it does not matter if people torment or dislike you, it is their problem, not yours. Remember, you are always special. We each have our character and traits that differ from others. If your want to torment somebody just because they are different, then “who are you to do such a thing?”. You have no right to torment another person just for being different.

So yes, I do leave all of you with this thought, we may be different but we are all one united group. We may be different from each other, but that is a good thing. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, but together, we could overcome any of these challenges. Always remember, we are all one, always we’re one. We are all truly birds of the same feather.