“I love the format that Laurel Downing Bill uses to tell the history of Alaska. I learned so much in reading this book and I truly never knew just how rich a history Alaska had and the stories are so nicely told… If you want to know something about beautiful rugged Alaska, give this one a try; you will enjoy it.”

Aunt Phil’s Trunk: Volume Three Bringing Alaska’s History Alive by Laurel Downing Bill is another dive into the history of Alaska and this time we pick up from 1912 to 1935. Again we have an array of short stories combined with beautiful and historic photographs (almost 350). In this volume, we visit the great sickness of 1918 and the steamship sinking of the Princess Sophia. Lest we forget, we also visit the story of the great serum run to Nome in 1925. A lot of big things happened in this era and none of them should be forgotten.

This is the best volume yet in this series. I loved every page, story and picture. It really is written to appeal to people of all ages. While all the stories from this time period held my interest and were very informative, my favorite was the Nome serum run of 1925. I have been in love with the story since I saw the movie Balto as a kid and then researched the real story. It is amazing what the dogs and mushers did to save people at the time; can you imagine it? Laurel Downing Bill is onto something with the Aunt Phil’s Trunk series because the books just seem to get better and better. If you love history and Alaska or are even just curious about either topic, this book will interest you. The layout and format with the short and enjoyable stories make it easy to read and take in the information so you never get bored. I highly recommend this one.