Book by former Saultbie recommended by Dana Martin

The following book review was written by Grade 7 Isabel Fletcher student Dana Martin.

Dana is seen reading to her younger sister, Nova.

Both are daughters of SooToday.com reporter Carol Martin.

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Racing for Diamonds is Anita Daher's latest children's book offering.

Daher, a well-known author, lived in Sault Ste. Marie for a few years and moved to Winnipeg with her family about two years ago.

Daher is also known for her books Flight from Bear Canyon and Flight from Big Tangle.

While in Sault Ste. Marie, Daher organized events for the Sault Ste. Marie and District Arts Council and offered an online writing workshop through SooToday.com.

Her books, including Racing for Diamonds, are published by Orca Books out of Victoria, B.C.

Racing for Diamonds is set in the Northwest Territories and the main characters are Jaz, Colly and Gunther.

They live near Yellowknife.

Jaz and Colly enter a dog sled race with their five-dog team that starts out at Norman Wells, just below the Arctic Circle.

Just before they reach the fourth check point, Jaz and Colly find Gunther, who had gone missing for mysterious reasons shortly before the race began.

Gunther has a head injury but refuses to go back with Jaz and Colly.

Instead, he tells them they have to take the sled where he directs but won't tell them where they are going or why.

The team heads off the path and into the wilderness and Gunther tells his story on the way.

To find out what he says, you'll have to read the book.

Racing for Diamonds was well paced and the story moved along fast enough to be interesting.

You learn a lot about northern life and the book made me want to read more from Daher.

A few parts were hard to follow because it wasn't clear that the words were what a character was thinking rather than what he or she was saying aloud.

I would recommend this book to kids in Grades 3 - 6 because the book is shorter and less intimidating than books like the Lord of the Rings.

I would also recommend it because the words are easy to understand and the story is very interesting, especially if readers want to learn about adventures in different places and other ways of life.

To find out more about Anita Daher and the books she has written, visit her website.

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Response from Anita Daher:

Awww...this is so cool!

I believe this is the very first review written for the book.

Incidentally, Sault Ste. Marie has a significant place in my next book, Spider's Song (young adult novel) which comes out next month.