Ice Dogs

By: Terry Lynn Johnson / Narrated By: Dara Rosenberg

Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins

Nifty for little kids who like adventures; younger teens might take to it also. Animals, however? The Ice Dogs are baaaaarely in there…

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that I didn’t enjoy Ice Dogs or appreciate author Terry Lynn Johnson’s experience as a musher, which comes to the forefront of this story, it’s just that I chose this audiobook for my Animals Pick of the Week, expecting 14-year old Victoria’s relationship with her dogs to be closer.

Sure, she’s bonded closely with one of the dogs in particular, and we even get to know the names of some of the dogs, but mostly here you’ll be listening to a girl-boy survival and adventure story. So wah wah wah for me who was expecting dogs to play an important role in that.

Nope. It’s even to the point that Victoria, who’s recently lost her father and whose relationship with her mother is fraught and mean-spirited, takes her ill-fated journey because she’s on a quest to get even more dogs to use as part of her sled-racing team. So her own dogs aren’t enough. And there you are; I had to just deal with it at that point, sadly dismissing the “dogs” part of “ice DOGS”. (Once again: Cue boo-hoo-hooing for me).

Anyway, her jaunt goes awry when she discovers an injured boy who lost control of his snowmobile and needs help; he’s originally from the big city, so he DEFinitely needs looking after. And following a deadly snowstorm, plus a bit where Chris, the boy who is (of course) just a tad older than she, accidentally torches and loses Victoria’s map, and she somehow loses her compass, Victoria has to use every skill her newly-deceased father ever taught her of how to survive harsh conditions in the wilderness.

And so there’s some ingenuity involved, and she shows Chris that: By the way, SOMEbody kills the meat you eat, so they’re gonna have to if they wanna not starve. Plus, she does some keenly thought through tasks during their forlorn trek.

But mostly? Well, yes there’s skill involved, but wouldn’t ya know it? There’re a LOT of jeepers creepers oh so nifty lucky breaks. Yes, her observation skills show her to look for a carcass when she sees carrion birds swarming the air, but really. How absolutely lucky that a moose was killed when they needed it most. AND the wolves left them a good portion just. right. there! How absolutely lucky that they find a bit of shelter that has a huge container of dog kibble just. right. there!

Like I said, the younger the audience the better. Hmm… I gripe and all, but actually Johnson writes so that the pace flows quickly, and the reader/listener is swept from one trial straight on to the next challenge. And narrator Dara Rosenberg, who turns in a fine (If just a triiiiifle uninspired, as far as conveying emotions goes) performance, carries us briskly through the swift pacing and from drama to drama. It certainly doesn’t hurt, also, that she does the teasing yet increasingly earnest conversations between Victoria and Chris well. To the point where, as Victoria begins making peace with the past, her father’s death, the alienation and judgment towards her mother, becomes a bit of a throat-choker. I did NOT snivel and cry, I tell you! I SWEAR!

But yeh yeh yeh, Victoria’s realizations and confessions were satisfying and did the ol’ lump-in-the-throat thing.

So a jolly decent listen, all considered.

Just do tryyyyy not to be distraught when you realize the Ice Dogs are Victoria and Chris… Yup…

Now that DID make me snivel!