Thursday, February 26, 2009

More Iditarod resources

Electronic ones, this time. Here's a list of DVDs we've either seen or plan to see, relating specifically to the Iditarod or in general to Alaska or the Arctic (or at the very least, snow and dogs):

Nature: Alaska. Disc one contains two episodes: A Mystery in Alaska and Sled Dogs. We learned so much about the Iditarod by watching the Sled Dogs episode last year that we decided to watch it again this year. Learned even more this time. Highly recommended.

Animal Planet: Growing Up Arctic. This whole series is well worth watching, but this particular dvd has polar bears, arctic seals, and walruses, plus a bonus Antarctic episode (penguins).

Snow Buddies. Yes, this Disney movie is what started the whole obsession for our family. My two youngest still love it, even though they've seen it at least fifteen times.

Balto I, II, III. I watched the first one, which was actually pretty good. The other two were not memorable to me, but my kids liked them.

Iron Will. Not about the Iditarod, but a shorter race, the 1917 Winnipeg-to-St.-Paul sled dog race. Gorgeous scenery.

White Fang. Set in Alaska during the gold rush. This movie was too intense for my (then) six-year-old and three-year-old.

Eight Below. The right sport, a different continent--Antarctica. Good film. I don't think the younger two watched this one, either.

Pretty Sled Dogs. Review coming.

Eyewitness: Arctic & Antarctic
. Great companion to the book. My kids (all three) love this series of science & nature episodes. Available in VHS only, I believe. Got it from the library.

National Geographic: Masters of the Arctic Ice
. We enjoyed this look at arctic animals.

The Wild Arctic. 240 minutes of polar animals on our "to watch" list.

Over Alaska. In our Netflix queue.

Arctic Tale. Enjoyable.

Alaska: Spirit of the Wild. If I'm remembering correctly, this one had too much fighting between polar bears in it for my sensitive kiddos. It was either that or the whale hunt. But the scenery was downright breathtaking.

I know there were more we watched last year, and if anyone reading this list has more suggestions, please feel free to share them via comments.

Back to books--here is an excellent website for books and other tidbits (reading logs, bookmarks to print, etc.), even if you don't join the project: Idita-Read

One more blog to add to the list: Josh Rogers' Iditablog, now in its fifth year.

1 comment:

Kelly Polark said...

Stone Fox is a story about a sled dog race as well. When I taught third grade, I had my class read it. Great story.