Minutes later, below them loomed Nine Mile Hill.Look at that!Not one musher. It stood like a symbol of the struggle ahead.Jack knew what Tom was thinking. It was a long, hard trail.

I cast the wilderness itself as a character in the book. It is my belief that the interplay of light and dark elements, good and evil, dreams and waking hours, reality and fantasy is why fairytales enchant and delight readers.Michele Bourke's illustrations depict characters and scenes in a magical way.

Whoa!"Stella shouted.Billy ran ahead, released his tether."Hike!""Let'sGo!"Cautiously, they continued still deeper into the darkness.The canopy dripped snow-melt onto them. Stella shivered.The sleds were silhouettes, the dogs liquid shadows."Listen, what was that?

This cape had become Stella. Bold, Bright, Daring, Red! It was a girl in a story-book. Stella was a star on the red carpet, in Hollywood. What a bright smile she had! That photograph! That trophy! And that red hair that flowed like a mane in the wind!

Far, far away, in a place known as Alaska, darkness was beginning to fall. A man was walking across the vast wilderness. He made slow progress. His dog pulled on the leash as if she knew they were almost there. They were headed for Anchorage. The dog, a fur ball of energy, kept her nose to the ground. She moved fast as if something was driving her forward, some kind of reward or prize.