School Library Journal
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Gr 1–2—Togo, a Siberian Husky born in Alaska in 1913, led a dog team in the historic serum-run to save the lives of children suffering from diphtheria in Nome in 1925. A brutal blizzard that year necessitated the use of 150 dogs to relay medicine from the capitol to Nome over the course of five days. Potter's flat ink and watercolor illustrations place readers in the midst of the windswept snow plains and mountainous territory the teams of animals crossed under extraordinarily difficult conditions. The featured human in this story, musher Leonhard Seppala, a Norwegian immigrant, is centered in this historical narrative that takes place against a backdrop of whiteness. Diverse skintones do appear, but the illustrations do not indicate the fact that one-third of Nome's population at the time was Indigenous, nor does the text acknowledge the existence of anyone other than Seppala and the governor of Alaska at the time of the event. The author's note provides context and identifies fact and fiction without addressing the illustrator's choice to represent the Togo's eyes as icy blue. Togo's eyes were recorded as having appeared brown. VERDICT With the stated shortcomings, this title will be of interest to collections where tales of animal heroics are popular.—Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Balto, who made the final delivery, is often the (furry) face of the 1925 dogsled relay that heroically carried desperately needed antitoxin serum across Alaska to battle a diphtheria outbreak in the dead of winter. Clever and spirited Togo, however, led the team that traveled a longer, more dangerous leg of the trip, and this straightforward but exciting account describes how he grew from a sickly pup to become a trusted lead dog. The serum run is explained in enough detail to make a gripping story without overwhelming readers with a wall of text, while simple watercolors set the scene of a frigid, unforgiving landscape with screeching owls and treacherous ice. The narrative integrates elements of Togo’s many adventures into this one journey, which may rankle some fact-checkers; ample back matter clarifies the time line and provides additional resources and information about dogsledding. Fans of heroic animals, epic journeys, and plucky upstarts will all find much to enjoy here—and children who are chided for being “too active” may recognize a kindred spirit.

Publishers Weekly
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The story of the sled dogs that braved a blizzard, transporting serum to quell a 1925 diphtheria outbreak in Nome, Alaska, has been told before, via the story of Balto the dog. In this picture book, mother-daughter collaborators the Potters (Cher Ami) spotlight another participant: sled dog leader Togo, who led the most challenging part of that relay, traveling, per back matter, 261 miles in five days under brutal conditions. Togo’s strength and special character are apparent early on when his owner, Leonhard Seppala (1877–1967), tries to give the obstreperous pup away and the animal returns, leaping through a glass window to reach him. Eventually, Togo’s fighting spirit leads Seppala to make him the head of his sled dog team. During a precisely planned operation that spans 674 miles and involves 150 dogs, Seppala elects to cut across the frozen Norton Sound, a shortcut that saves time but subjects the team to frigid winds and mortal danger from shifting ice floes, all of which Togo helps the team to overcome. Folk-style watercolor paintings give the characters a classic, sculptural feel in a triumphant telling filled with depth and excitement. Human characters are portrayed with varying skin tones. An author’s note acknowledges changes made to the historical story. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)

Horn Book
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he Potter mother-daughter team tells the true story of Togo, an exceptional Siberian husky owned by the musher Leonhard Seppala of Nome, Alaska. An accessible text recounts Togo's somewhat tumultuous beginnings. Ultimately, Seppala made him the lead dog of his sled team hauling cargoes of food and mail. In January 1925, when Togo was almost twelve, an outbreak of diphtheria in Nome coincided with a "blasting" blizzard. Families were desperate to get medicine, and the town knew their only hope was the sled dogs. In a carefully planned relay, one hundred fifty dogs would cover the 674-mile route between Nome and Anchorage. Seppala's team, with Togo in the lead, traveled the hardest and longest part of the race, over two hundred fifty miles. "He steered his team along jagged ice-capped slopes and led them up and over a five-thousand-foot mountain pass!" The book emphasizes the role that Togo's intelligence and bravery played in the serum's record-time arrival, which saved the lives of many children. Milisande Potter crafts an exciting story and deftly weaves the history of the Serum Run of 1925 into one canine hero's tale. Giselle Potter, using ink and watercolor, perfectly captures Togo's clear-sighted determination and fearlessness. Appended with an author's note and sources. (c) Copyright 2025. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A celebration of the iconic sled dog who led a medical rescue mission to Nome, Alaska, in 1925. Balto the sled dog still gets the press, but Togo did more of the work—leading a team that carried diphtheria serum through storm and over ice on one long, dangerous leg of a 674-mile relay mission. But the entire team’s intrepid spirit and strength of doggy character—which Robert J. Blake portrayed so compellingly in his 2002Togo—is at best only fitfully present here. The golden, stubby-legged pooch in the painted illustrations doesn’t look anything like the noble figure in the closing photos, and, when they’re not lounging at ease in the Alaska wilderness, dining on fish elegantly served on dinner plates, the team’s dogs are depicted merrily mushing along beneath clear, high skies over a neatly plowed path or even somehow upright on a vertical cliff, harking perhaps back to a previous reference to “curvy landscapes.” And though the afterword has details about sled dogs in general and Togo’s later life in particular, the author admits that one incident she’s depicted to demonstrate his intelligence actually occurred on an earlier, unrelated journey. Togo’s owner was white, but there is some racial variation in scenes depicting the crowds that flocked to see him on a subsequent tour of the U.S. Takes too many liberties with the facts, for all that the tribute is well deserved. (sources)(Informational picture book. 6-9) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.