"Dog Driven" was an action-packed, gripping novel for younger readers. The author knew what It was obvious from the start that the author has been a musher herself as she wrote with conviction. I felt I was beside McKenna as she tore across the snow and ice with her dog team.

The fact that McKenna's eyesight was beginning to fail her made for an exciting read and I loved how she bonded with her dogs and ensured they weren't hurt during the race. Her lead dog, Mustard, was a star!

McKenna was a fabulous character. She was strong, independent, determined, caring and determined not to be treated differently because of her condition. Ultimately, she proved to herself and her family that she was a capable young woman who could overcome physical and mental challenges.

What did frustrate me were her parents and the way McKenna's mother hovered and babied McKenn's young sister, Emma, who already had Stargardt's disease. However, the relationship between the sisters was believable and touching.

I don't know if I was overly tired or not, but the end brought tears to my eyes. A wonderful read that was inspirational and exciting. ( )

A quick reading story about a girl and her dogs and a race. This is great for survival/adventure fans, with what felt like reasonable stakes and no dead dogs. I didn't love it, but I think our teens will, particularly if they're remotely interested in sled dogs.

McKenna has agreed to run the most difficult dog sled race that she has every run across the Canadian wilderness to help bring attention to the eye disease that her sister suffers from. What everyone doesn’t know is that McKenna is starting to suffer some of the same symptoms of the disease. Can she make it through such a tough race and hide her deteriorating eyesight from everyone?
This title will is recommended to readers in grades 4-6. The action packed plot along with the strong characters make this a page turner. The author also does a good job of pointing out that a disability doesn’t have to hold you back. You just need to learn how to do things differently. ( )

BOOK REVIEW.
Dog driven by Terry Lynn Johnson; jacket illustration by Cliff Nielsen; jacket design by Andrea Miller; map artwork by Keith Robinson.
229 p. Boston ; New York : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, c2019. A Junior Library Guild Selection. Hardcover with dust jacket.

Fourteen-year-old McKenna Barney felt unwilling to admit to her parents that she had the same eye condition as her sister Emma: Stagardt disease (juvenile macular degeneration) that affects central vision. McKenna had watched her parents, especially her mother, overprotecting eight-year-old Emma.

McKenna reluctantly agreed to run their sled dogs in a new race across the Canadian wilderness while keeping her low vision hidden to everyone except Emma, even though she wasn't sure she could do it, let alone win. McKenna became inspired by rival Guy's lead dog Zesty, who's blind.

The author's knowledge and love of sled dogs and the Canadian wilderness shines throughout. The story made me laugh and cry at critical moments (it is rare for a book to do that). I enjoyed the running gags. This story combined several major interests in one: dogs, survival, vision impairment and blindness.

As part of this fiction story, at the end of many chapters are letters sent by dog sled teams past and present. With poor design choice, the letters were printed in tiny font (they wouldn't be written that small by a human, surely) on a grey background. From a low vision perspective the letters are extremely difficult or impossible to read without a magnifier. Even with a magnifier, poor contrast can make it hard. Ironically the main character also needed a magnifier to read print. Despite that, Dog Driven is an excellent story with quotes and insights the reader will relate to. ( )