Balto Books

Lithuania- Past, Culture, Present is a well done table book featuring numerous high quality photographs and well written sections on Lithuania's inhabitants, language, rural heritage, estates, religion, emmigration and ethnic composition. I stumbled onto this during my last trip to Vilnius and was completely pleased to see it now available here in the U.S. It follows the style of something you might see published by Time-Life. As with other books published in Lithuania, you will want to grab this one while you can. Printing runs tend to be small and sporadic at best. It is truly excellent.

The book is very systematic in providing a detailed overview of the Lithuanian grammar: phonology,morphology, syntax. The style is clear and logical, with abundant examples intending to assist the learning. All Lithuanian words are transcribed with stress marked. Authors belong to the respectable institutions: Institue of the Lithuanian Language and the Vilnius University. This book is the best if you would like to have a fuller picture than that being provided in standardized learners' textbooks, and if you are looking for comprehensive, systematic and detailed coverage of the language.

A tremendous book about how Lithuanian partisans' connections with London allowed Philby and the Soviets to destroy their independence movements for years.
Superbly written, well researched and scary about the power of moles.

I can't be the only Mom that gets frustrated by this. I go to buy early reading books and encounter ONLY TV- and movie- marketed characters in the books. I would like better choices.

Anyway, Balto was the only Step-3 book in the store that did NOT have a Princess or SpongeBob on the cover, so we got it. I expected to get some flack from the child who is afraid of dogs, but he liked it fairly well.

Balto is a sled dog in 1925 who participates in a relay. The purpose is to bring medicine to an Alaskan town with a diphtheria epidemic, carrying it through a driving blizzard and terrible conditions. Balto had the second-to-last leg of the relay, but when it was time to hand off to another team, the other team was not there. So Balto and his team kept going. Since he was the dog who made it into town with the medicine, he got the credit for the whole adventure! We talked about the other dog teams and drivers who had to come through the deep snow, and how all those teams working together got the job done.

Here is what the first grader liked best about the story (his words):
+ There is a map. Maps are good.
+ The dog kept going.
+ The doctor helped the sick children.
+ I like the picture of the statue of Balto.
+ Balto was a hero.

Here is what the Mom liked in the story:
+ It would have been easy to quit, but the driver and his sled team kept going, despite miserable conditions.
+ The words were just challenging enough.
+ I liked the map, too.
+ The illustrations are wonderful. The book has fairly many pages (48), but the pictures keep up the excitement.
+ There really is a statue of Balto in Central Park, and you can google it to see the real statue (of course, if you live near NYC, you can see it live!)

As far as reading levels go, I would say level 3 is a pretty good judgment. My son was reading phonics readers and step 1 readers over the summer, and his confidence is building. This book did not frustrate him, but it took him a while to sound out some of the words. I had to help with the names of some towns and complicated words (Anchorage, diphtheria). The rest, he did himself.

This is a wonderful story for children. It is also enjoyable for adults.

It is a true story and there is a statue of Balto in Central park in New York City.

Although this is an inspiring and well-written piece of literature, the fact is that, even though Balto took the medicine 53 miles, his was the last leg of the relay. There were other teams of dogs who traveled farther and longer than Balto's team, and they received none of the credit afterwards. I suppose it's the politics of heroism, which is sad, but they should still be acknowledged for having gotten the medicine far enough for Balto to see it delivered safely to the sick people.

I teach an afterschool literacy program for children in 3rd-6th grades. My 3rd grade struggling readers loved this story! However, you need to give them the background information ahead of time for them to get the most out of this story. We looked at copies of the original news stories and pictures of the real Balto, read books about Alaska and the Iditarod Race, and learned about "dogs with jobs" before we opened this book. The easy reading level and great illustrations made this a joy to read for my reluctant readers. They wrote a "missing chapter" of the dogs' journey to Nome. Fantastic!

...can keep these packs of hardy huskies and malamutes from delivering the antitoxin to Nome during the 1925 Diptheria Epidemic!

No train can get through due to the snow. The train that was originally transporting the medicine got mired in snow, more than 700 miles from its destination. Only a sled team of hardy dogs can reach the stricken town. Balto, the lead dog on one of the latter legs of that fateful run led a team of hardy malamutes and huskies some 53 miles. He led the team through adverse weather and land conditions including blizzards and a froxen river. The curly tailed dog is credited for seeing the medicine through; it is on his run that the medicine arrived 10 days ahead of schedule.

This book will delight and excite young readers who will wait with baited breath (even though they know the malamute team will reach the town like the Calvary). The delightful illustrations make a good thing even better. The history of the hardy Eskimo dog, the sled dog driver and the dog teams will provide a part of history that will be revived and discussed for a long time to come. Adding the map of the dog sled trail was an excellent teaching device.

My students enjoyed the book and it tied nicely into our unit on Alaskan sled dogs. Good history tie in as well.

Just so you'd know, this book is not denouncing Togo. It is merely telling Balto's side of the story. And it is a courageous one taht deserves to be well-known. There.

One day, a serious diptheria epidemic breaks out in Nome. Sled dogs are selected to deliver serum to the town before time runs out. Will they succeed?

This compelling book tells the story of Balto's brave and graet contribution to this race (he never tried to claim all the credit!), and I would recommend it even to Leonhard Seppala, so he would stop despising Balto, but sadly, he is now dead.

We purchased this book after seeing the real Balto (courtesy of the art of taxidermy) at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Our quest in Northeast Ohio, where Balto enjoyed his senior years, was prompted by my seven year-old daughter's love-affair with the animated film about this dog, who navigated a lost sled team carrying life-saving medicine through Alaska in 1925. I hereby confess publicly that, after myself reading the book, which is aimed at the 9 year-old set, I cried, much as I had done 35 years before after reading "Lassie Come Home." This account, however, is much more compelling than "Lassie" or "Old Yeller," because it entirely factual (possibly excepting the subjective thoughts imputed to the protagonist).

The author did her homework researching this story about a sled dog who was just one of the pack facing poor odds against daunting weather and unrequiting expanses of blinding snow and ice. When the alpha dog loses the trail, and another refuses to lead, the team turns to Balto to bring them and their cargo safely to rest in Nome.

Perhaps Balto deserves an authentic, grown-up biography, but this one will serve in the meantime. It appears to be the definitive account.

This is an excellent book if you are interested in the Iditarod race in Alaska.The book helps young children understand the importance of perserverence and is a great introduction to history for the very young (6-8).A true story that inspires people to understand the bond between animals and people.

If you love the Iditarod and you want your children (or children you're fond of) to be introduced to this great race, the story of Balto and the Great Race by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel is a good place to start, beginning with the cover illustration by Nora Köerber. This book is a Stepping Stones chapter book with black and white illustrations throughout.

At the beginning of the book is a map of Alaska showing the Iditarod railroad and dogsled trail, along with some illustrations depicting the basic story of this great race against time to get much-needed diphtheria serum to Nome in 1925.

Balto is a Siberian husky born to run, and to lead. He guided his musher, Gunnar Kaasen, into Nome on the final leg of the journey, when only this magnificent dog could sense the way through a terrible, deadly blizzard with no trail to follow and wind at such strength it tossed Kaasen and dogsled into the air, almost losing their precious cargo. A short time before this near disaster, Balto saved the team from going through the ice to certain death. His instincts were in the realm of the supernatural and his devotion to the task at hand human in awareness.

It states on the back cover that this book is for children in grades 1-3. As the Cleveland Museum of Natural History states on the same back cover, "Balto's story is one of courage, cooperation and inspiration, and personal sacrifice for the greater good."

Carolyn Rowe Hill

This is a wonderful collection of over 300 recipes from the Lithuanian countryside. More than just a collection of recipes, it includes the cultural and culinary context in which the recipes arise, including notation of regional specialties. The recipes require an above average amount of cooking expertise (for example, not all recipes indicate how much dough to use to make a dumpling), but experienced cooks should be able to make reasonable judgments. No western kitchen appliances are referenced, but again experience will guide you. Some recipes are curiosities only (i.e., herring with hemp seed, carrot coffee), but most are doable and worth a try.

Loved it! Cindy did a good job of following the movie besides a few mistakes. The movie was awsome! This book will become one of your favs if you love dogs, or are a Balto fan--like me! Balto's story is true, and this is a novelization based on the movie, that was based on a true story! Balto is a wolfdog who sees himself as a nobody, and is ashamed of his wolf heritage. His only friends are Boris the Russian Snow Goose, Muk and Luk the Polar Bear cubs, and the beautiful Husky Jenna. THey see the trure hero inside. But when children in the town of Nome become sick, and the sled team relaying medicine is lost, it's up to Balto to lead them home. This book and the true story of Balto will capture your heart and soul forever. GO BALTO!!!

I thought this book was great because shakespear didn't write it and it was based on the move

I had never seen Balto before, and I thought the book was WONDERFUL! I read it at least twice a day. Then I got to rent the movie and it was a disappointment. Sorry. Anyway, the book is based on the movie, which tells the TRUE story of a dog named Balto who participated in the "Mercy Race to Nome" in 1925. Balto eventually saves the town from the epidemic of diphtheria, becomes the hero, and even wins with girl, a HOT looking husky named Jenna. Along the way he encounters a grizzly bear, breaking ice, and his arch enemy Steele. In the end Balto is loved by all. It was a great film. I only wish the book was better centered towards the film.

Balto, a story every child would enjoy, and a good read for adults. The movie ends and you are left wondering about the rest of Balto's life. This story answers most questions.

We are big Balto fans, and were excited to see a book about the rest of his life. This book, while filled with facts, did not tell them in an interesting way. Much of the language and writing style would only be interesting to adults or older kids 14-16.