| "One day Grandfather wouldn't get out of bed. He just lay there and stared at the ceiling and looked sad..." (from the first line) There's just no stopping little Willy. Determined to keep their farm going -- and to give his ailing grandfather a reason to live -- the ten-year-old boy hitches his dog, Searchlight, to the plow and harvests the whole potato crop. Now little Willy needs five hundred dollars to pay off ten years' back taxes, or the farm will be taken away from them. Dauntless as ever, he stakes everything on one wild hope: that he and Searchlight can outrun the best dogsled racers in the country -- including the legendary Indian, Stone Fox. But the huge mountain man is every bit as intent on winning the big prize money as little Willy is. And he and his five beautiful Samoyeds haven't lost a race yet.... Based on a Rocky Mountain legend, John Reynolds Gardiner's story -- like its hero, little Willy -- has all the ingredients of a winner, right down to the unforeseen drama at the finish line.
Annotation:
Ten-year-old Willy is brokenhearted to discover that his grandfather's farm is in foreclosure due to unpaid taxes. Overwhelmed by the situation, Willy's grandfather develops a psychosomatic illness, takes to his bed, and refuses to speak. With the burden resting squarely on his young shoulders, Willy sets forth to save the farm. But how can a young boy raise the $500 needed to pay the taxes? Then Willy sees a poster advertising the National Dogsled Race--first prize $500. But running in the race means beating Stone Fox, the Native American champion sled-racer who, with the help of his team of five snow-white Samoyed dogs, has never lost a race. As Willy and his loyal dog, Searchlight, prepare for the race, Willy learns that Stone Fox also has a very good reason for wanting to win the prize money. Will either of these worthy competitors win first prize? Based on a Rocky Mountain legend, this story is illustrated with occasional B&W drawings.
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