… our last six months in a nutshell/slideshow! As Johnny Cash would say, “We’ve been EVERYWHERE, friends…”
We’ve been to… Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts…
And now SUMMER READING 2025 is just over the hill! Here’s to more trails to discover, more libraries to explore, more books to read, more friends to meet!
Email Karen and Noggin at mymusher @ gmail.com to book a talk at your library or school… MUSH!
Noggin and I love our job because we get to work with some of the coolest folks around—of course we’re talking about LIBRARIANS AND TEACHERS! Check out this wonderful video posted by Lisa McEwan from New Haven Elementary, New Haven, NY. When the students began to serenade Noggin and me, strumming their ukuleles and singing one of our very own songs (“Noggin, You’re the One“) from our TRAIL ANGELS album, I started crying!
I’m talking tears of joy and appreciation here… for Kelly Cullen, the Library & Media Specialist, who organized our visit to the school (and several others in the area) and passed along our song and lyric/chord charts to Lisa… and for Lisa, an incredibly enthusiastic and inspiring music teacher, who devoted time and attention, teaching her students a song from an album my friend, Phillip Henry Christopher, and I worked on for almost 2 years with a group of talented musicians from all over the world… for those musicians, of course, who brought this project to life (!!!) … for the subjects of this song (and my talks)— NOGGIN, CHLOE, and all of my beloved dogs over the years… for BOCES who sponsors our visits to New York schools… and last but certainly not least, the students who worked so hard to learn the lyrics and music (and who also made their own ukulele picks with Kelly Cullen on a 3D printer!) and WOWED Noggin and me and the entire school with a concert we will always remember and cherish!
Across this country, our schools and public libraries are the HEART of every community! TEAMWORK, COLLABORATION, CREATIVITY, EXPLORATION, RESILIENCE, JOY, HOPE… TEACHERS and LIBRARIANS keep us all focused on the trail ahead, a path we all share together!
2025 is my 25th year giving school and library talks across this country and I’m thrilled to say it’s been one of the best yet! We look forward to SUMMER READING 2025, our fall 2025 talks, and 2026! To book a talk in your community, please email me at mymusher @ gmail.com. And to check out our entire TRAIL ANGELS album, go to: https://peddlersfrench.bandcamp.com/album/trail-angels
My 24th year of dog mushing talks is off to an exciting and enthusiastic start! In the first three months of 2024, we’ve given over 40 talks in Indiana, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York (not to mention the busy 2023 Autumn tour in North Carolina). Thank you to the librarians and teachers who hosted us as well as all of the students, patrons, and dog lovers who made us feel at home in your communities. This lovely little article written by Nathan Bagster sums up why we love doing what we do, and why we plan to keep on spreading that beautiful sled dog spirit…
String of Dogs 