I’m a retired Library Director and love books, what else can I say? Granite is a children’s story about an Alaskan husky and his musher Susan Butcher.

Susan Butcher was the four-time Iditarod Champion. She raised and trained Alaskan husky dogs and as a musher, she delivered mail and supplies via dog sled during the harsh Alaskan winters.

Granite was the timid, shy runt of his litter born with knock knees. Susan worked with him to develop his strength and immediately noticed that he had keen navigation skills. He never got lost.

I won’t tell the whole story except to say that Granite became Susan’s lead dog and helped her to win three of her four Iditarod races.

Susan and her husband David Monson, a fellow dog racer, married in 1985 and trained dogs at their Trail Breaker Kennel. As part of the Riverboat Discovery Tour in Fairbanks they talked with passengers from the bank of their kennel.

Granite lived to the ripe old age of seventeen. Susan died in 2006 of leukemia. In 2007, David Monson released the book, Granite as a tribute to an amazing musher and her dog.

On March 1, 2008 a bill was signed designating the first Saturday of March in Alaska as “Susan Butcher Day.” This coincides with the traditional start of the Iditarod Race.

During the tour of the Athabascan Indian Village, I was drawn to the statue of Granite outside the mock post office. When I saw that David Monson was inside autographing books, I knew I had to support a fellow author.

More importantly, if you need a book for your children or grandchildren that teaches determination and belief in yourself, this is the book.