There are no roads leading to Shaktoolik, a small Alaskan fishing village but, that didn't stop Our Lady of Guadalupe fifth and sixth-grade students Erika and Julia Guerette from sending books to the small school in this remote village.

In March, Grant Jacobson traveled by plane to Shaktoolik to volunteer at a checkpoint for the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Jacobson is a coworker of Erika and Julia's Father Mark Guerette. He was limited to only three bags, but offered to make his third bag open for donations.

Guerette asked his daughters if they'd like to help and suggested a book drive. Both girls were eager to take on the project.

"What inspired us to do this project was Linwood Fiedler. After he won the Iditarod he donated his prize money to schools along the Iditarod trail," said Erika.

Erika and Julia described the village and their book drive to their classes in an e-mail. "They have 230 people in their village with 76 of them being children age 15 or younger...You can only reach Shaktoolik by either flying in on a small plane, arrive by boat (but only during the summer when the ice is melted) or hike or dog sled. It is a lot different than living here in West Seattle. We would like to help their school library by sending up a small box of books."

Erika said the e-mail asking classmates and parents to help with the book drive turned out to be a success. Within three days around 300 books were donated.

"I thought it was incredible," said Peggy O'Boyle Fine, stewardship and development director for Our Lady of Guadalupe School. "I think it's great the girls, the students made it happen."

The girls also received a warm response from Shaktoolik. Erika said, "The teachers were very excited when they saw how many age groups we ranged it from. The teachers also sent us a thank you note."

Additionally, Iditarod Education Director Diane Johnson responded to the girls efforts. In her e-mail she wrote, "As the director of education for Iditarod, I had been beginning the plans for such a project, to help bring needed books and other supplies to classrooms in Alaska. So, this became the official start to the program...Thanks again for being involved in this project. I know the students are reading more, thanks to this!"

Although the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is not part of the school's curriculum, Erika says her dad has come in for special presentations on the competition.

"My Dad has an outfit that he picks someone from the class to wear. Dad knows a lot and me and my sister have learned a lot about it. We usually pick a musher to follow through the Iditarod."

Despite her interest in the race, Erika said she doesn't think she'll ever try competing. "I think it would be fun but I don't think I would do it because it gets really really cold and a lot of people have frozen up there."

However, Erika plans to do another book drive next year. "It was really fun to put together. Me and my sister really liked it because we like to read." She also said organizing the book drive "felt really good. In some of the pictures the kids looked really excited. I was happy to help, it made me feel good."

Lauren Gardener can be reached at wseditor@robinsonnews.com