Dusty Whittemore faces several challenges and below-freezing weather during the Junior Iditarod race in Alaska. Two tangles, a snowmobile collision, and a run-in with a moose are no match for the skill of Dusty and his dog sled team, and they cross the finish line first, a sweet victory that will replace the disappointment of coming in fourth the year before. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt StoryTown, 2008)

This lesson was created as part of the Basal Alignment Project, during which teachers created CCSS-aligned lessons for existing literary and information texts in basal readers. All page numbers and unit/week designations found in this lesson relate to the edition of the basal reader named above. If you are using a trade book or different edition of this title, the page/unit/week references in this lesson will not match. Consult the content referenced in the body of the lesson to determine appropriate page numbers for your text.