Iditarod thriller

There's a mystery on the Iditarod Trail, and real-life children are about to figure it out.

The Mystery on Alaska's Iditarod Trail is a new children's book by Carole Marsh, a Georgia-based author who travels around the country, visiting locations for her mystery series. The Alaska title is the eighth in a 12-book series designed for children ages seven through 14.

The book -- like all of the books in Marsh's series -- is full of fun for young readers, but they are also very educational.

The Mystery on Alaska's Iditarod Trail includes a lot of history and geography, and even children familiar with Alaska's history will learn quite a bit from the title, from Gold Rush history to Inuit terms.

Five titles, covering historical places and events like Biltmore House, the Boston Marathon, Blackbeard the Pirate, the Alamo and Kill Devil Hills, already were released. Marsh recently released the remaining seven titles.

"I have had hundreds of calls from parents, teachers and kids begging for the next mystery," she said. "That's why I decided to release the next seven in the series all at the same time."

The Mystery on Alaska's Iditarod Trail is a tale about four kids as they head north for the famous race.

They work together and dig through Gold Rush history to find out who is making their sled dog sick before the big race.

One of the book's chapters includes a stop in Wasilla, where readers find out the race really starts, not in Anchorage, as they previously thought.

Like all of Marsh's mystery books, The Mystery on Alaska's Iditarod Trail uses real-life children in the story. Wasilla student Caroline Wyndam, 11, plays the role of Raven in the book.

Adding real-life people to stories that include real-life details make the mysteries educational -- and make children want to learn more, Gallopade International, the publisher, said.

"Kids don't want to just read the Carole Marsh Mysteries," said Michele Yother, president and publisher of Gallopade. "They want to visit the places in the books, write their own mystery and become characters in the next Carole Marsh Mystery."

Also included in the book are sections about Iditarod trivia, Iditarod facts, a glossary of Inuit terms and writing tips from the author to help young students write their own mystery stories.

Marsh has been writing children's books for more than 20 years.

Throughout her long career, Marsh has been involved in more than 10,000 children's media projects.

Marsh founded Gallopade in 1979 after writing a single children's mystery book.

Today, the media giant represents more than 3,000 books, software titles and children's media titles.She travels around the world researching her books.

Marsh and Gallopade were recipients of the 2002 Teachers' Choice Award.