One day they weren't there and the next day, Norway was swarming with Nazis, even up by the cold, cold Arctic Circle in the little town of Riswyk, where winter lasts for most of the year. But just before their arrival;, Peter Lundstrom, 12 almost 13, knows that something is up among the adults in Riswyk. His father, a banker, and Uncle Victor, a fisherman, and other townsmen have devised a plan to get Norway's gold out of the country and to America so that it never falls into the hands of the Nazis. And, Peter learns, it involves not only him, his younger sister Lovisa and friends Helga Thomsen and Michael Berg, but all of Riswyk's children age 10 and up. The plan is that every child would take four bars of gold on their sleds 12 miles to where Uncle Victor's camouflaged boat is at anchor in the nearby Fjourd. They would bury the gold in the snow and build a snowman over their gold bars.

• Snow Treasure Summary
• Snow Treasure Teaching Guide
• Snow Treasure Characters

The townsmen figured no one would question sledding children. After burying their gold, the children would head over to a nearby farm where they would be given dinner and a place to sleep. And during the night, Uncle Victor would come and fetch the gold with his first mate, Rolls. And the plan works - though not as quickly as they had planned. The weight of the gold bars is too much for the younger kids and they are forced to take less than planned each time.

Suggests activities to be used in the classroom to accompany the reading of Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan.

So the whole operation stretched out to six weeks instead of three. And of course, this gives the Nazis time to cause problems. For one, even though the schoolteacher ls serving in the Norwegian army, the Nazi commandant decides the children should return to school. A noticed is posted, but before school even resumes, a mysterious illness breaks out among the younger children. The doctor manages to convince the commandant that the 'epidemic' is highly contagious and could easily spread to his men and that he advised the children not infected to stay outdoors as much as possible.

But one day, Helga tells Peter she has heard noises and felt like she was being watched for the last few days. Worried, Peter and his mother find Uncle Victor's boat and warn him about this Nazi spy. Sure enough, while building their snowman army over the gold shortly the next day, the Nazi soldier shows up. Luckily, Uncle Victor and Rolls were right there and capture the soldier, taking him to the hidden boat. The soldier tells them that his name is Jan Lasek and he is from Poland, but was taken by the Nazis when they invaded his country because he can speak many languages. He was forced into a Nazi uniform, but really just wants to go with Uncle Victor to America. But the next day, the Nazis are out looking for him and when the children refuse to answer any of their questions, the commandant gets angry and is just about to discover Lovisa's buried gold when Peter hits him in the ear with a snowball.

Taken into Nazi custody and locked in a cell, Peter decides saving the gold was worth anything the Nazis can do to him. Will Peter be able to escape the Nazis before they take any action against him? Or was moving all that gold in vain?

Snow Treasure was written in 1942, after Marie McSwigan read a newspaper article about Norway's gold being smuggled out of the country. In her Forward, she describes what she believed to be true about the children who delivered the gold on their sleds to a waiting ship. However, over time this story has been questioned and it seems there is no proof that it is true. And so at the end of the book, an additional note is included to that effect. I really wanted to like this story as much as I did the first time I read it, but now, reading it as an adult with more knowledge of WWII, the story was too slow moving and felt almost too naive for today's reader.

I also thought that the writing sounded dated and it made the story of moving millions of dollars in Norwegian currency on sleds for six weeks past the Nazis not not feel very dangerous or really exciting, the more so because I didn't really connect with any of the characters. On the other hand, on the March 15, 1942 the New York Times reviewer wrote. Snow Treasure is richly illustrated with a number of black and white illustrations by Mary A.

Reardon in what appears to be either pencil or charcoal. This wasn't one of the best books I have read about Norway in WWII, and while I still like the idea of the story, I just don't like the actual story as enthusiastically as I used to.

Snow Treasure Summary

However, this is one of those novels that designed to show children that no matter what they can make a difference and for that reason, I think it is worth reading. And it is an excellent example of how a community can come together to achieve a goal. A useful Teacher's Guide is available for Snow Treasure This book is recommended for readers age 9+ This book was purchased for my personal library This is book 4 of my 2013 Pre-1960 Classic Children's Books Reading Challenge hosted. I read and review books for children, YA and occasionally adult books. My post and opinions are my own. I read the books I receive from publishers and authors, but there is no guarantee of when or if I will review them. And I almost never review books I don’t like.

Please keep in mind, this blog has a very narrow focus. The majority of the books reviewed are about World War II, a few are about World War I and I do consider books that focus on peace. I t is my hope that the more we know about how war affects our children, the less inclined we will be to start wars.

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan is historical fiction based on the real life accounts of the children of Norway who helped to smuggle out the nation's gold reserves under the noses of the occupying German military during World War II. The novel begins by introducing four children: Peter (13), Lovisa (10), Michael (12), and Helga (11). They are playing in the snow, which has remained later into the season than usual, when they see Peter's Uncle Victor and his first mate, Rolls, coming over the hill from the seaport. They all wave enthusiastically, but are concerned when Victor hardly acknowledges them. This is unusual for Peter's normally gregarious Uncle. Later that night Peter tells his father at dinner time that he's seen Victor and that Victor is back from tending his nets at sea.

Peter is shocked that his father doesn't finish his meal, but leaves abruptly to find Victor. Later that night, Peter is wakened by voices in the front room. He gets out of bed to see who it is and overhears Victor and his father, Lars, discussing the possibility of war and what it could mean for Norway's money reserves. Victor spots Peter and his eyes widen. He tells Lars that the children would never be suspected. Lars argues with him, but Victor turns to Peter and asks him if he would like to help his country in a time of war.

Peter, wanting to be adventurous like his uncle, says that he would. Victor learns from Peter that there are more than 30 children that are of the age to participate in sledding the gold down the mountain to the waiting ships. The next day Peter invites Michael and Helga to come to his and Lovisa's home. Though Lovisa is Peter's younger sister, she is also included as a team member. Peter tells the children what Victor has asked of them and they all readily agree.

They take Peter's ancestral sword from over the fireplace, place their hands on it and swear to keep the secret about the gold and to refrain from speaking to a German, ever. Later that day, at school, Uncle Victor visits the classroom and tells the children that air raid shelters have been built around town and that they must practice going to the shelters in an orderly manner. He also tells them that he's forming a War Defense Club and that if anyone is interested in joining, they should see Peter, who will be the president. Peter's father leaves to join the army with many of the other men in the village. 38 children, in all, join the club.

In the middle of the night, Lars wakens Peter and has him follow Lars out to the railroad tracks where they meet up with some other men from the village, including Uncle Victor and Rolls. They take Peter to a manmade cave in the middle of the woods where they've stacked bricks of gold bullion from floor to ceiling. They tell Peter that he is to bring his team to the shelter every day, where someone will load the sleds for them, and then the children are to lay atop the bricks, belly-down, and sled them to the bottom of the mountain (nearly a 12 mile trip). They will stay overnight at the Holms' Farmstead, then walk the rest of the way home the next day. Peter learns from Victor that the children will be broken into teams, but that only 2-4 children at a time will go down, so as to avoid suspicion. Peter goes and tells the rest of the children, making each of them swear the same oath to not speak to the Germans.

Later that day, Peter, Helga, Lovisa, and Michael take the first run. It goes well until they reach the mid-way point. There they can see that the German soldiers are building a more permanent camp by the water's edge, and that they are using the only sledding trail to make their way up the mountain. The children are frightened, but Helga encourages them to look happy and normal.

They manage to get past the German soldiers as the Captain of the soldiers tells his men to stand aside to let the children through. He even tells Peter as he comes past that he used to enjoy sledding when he was a boy.

When the children reach the bottom of the hill, they pull their sleds to a prearranged clearing, find two submerged trees, and then they bury the bricks as Victor has shown them. Then, to mark the spots so that Victor and Rolls can come under cover of night to get the bricks and load them onto the boat, the children are to build snowmen. This they do. The sledding by the teams begins in earnest and half of the bricks are taken down the mountain when the weather threatens to shift.

If it rains then the snow will melt and there will be no more sledding, and no more way to get the gold safely down the mountain. However, Per Garson, the man who works for Peter's family, says that his trick knee says that it will be fine. That night the weather turns into a blizzard and everyone is snowed in for three days straight. Afterwards, the sledding begins again. Peter sees, when he comes over the hill, that the Germans didn't fare so well during the blizzard. The new Camp Commandant is upset and is screaming at his soldiers when Peter sleds past. The Commandant stops Peter on his way back out of the woods and asks him if he would rather stay at the camp with him and be his servant.

Peter remembers his vow not to speak to the Germans, and so he doesn't say a word. The Commandant believes him to be simple or rude and angrily sends Peter away. A week passes without incident, until one day Helga tells Peter that she feels as if they are being watched. Then, as they reach the Holms' farm, they see a man on skis shoot out of the tree-line and head down the mountain. Peter fears that they have been observed and tells Herr Holms. Herr Holms goes out at night to go to the village and warn the other children not to come down the mountain until they can figure out what is to be done.

Lundstrom, Peter's mother, arrives at the Holms' farm and tells Peter and the others that they should go ahead and continue with their sledding trips for now, but that they will all keep a sharp eye on things. Peter goes on another run a few days later and the Commandant stops him again. He says that Peter and the other children are stupid because they don't go to school. He announces that all children will go back to school starting the next day. Peter's mother visits the doctor and they devise a way to make it look as if the children have a case of German Measles.

Thus, the older children cannot go to school or risk catching it. This is relayed to the Commandant who now sees the village as disease ridden. Meanwhile, a blue-eyed soldier that Peter noticed on the first day down the hill comes into the village and sits in the pastry shop. This is shocking to Peter as none of the soldiers dare venture into the 'disease ridden' town. No one speaks to him, Peter notes. The soldier looks somehow very sad to him. The gold continues to go down, and it is after Peter has just finished burying his gold and making his snowman when he feels he is being watched again.

He quickly looks up and sees the blue-eyed soldier standing over him. Peter falls back into the snow, but before anything more can happen, Victor and Rolls come out of the trees and capture the German soldier.

They take him back to their boat, the Cleng Peerson. Peter follows them. Peter and the others learn that the man's name is Jan and that he is actually Polish. He'd been forced to join the German army after they learned that he could speak six languages. He tells them that all of his family has been killed or are in exile in other countries. He begs Victor to take him with them to America, which is where they will take the gold for safekeeping.

Victor tells him that even if he believed his story, he couldn't take him to America without official papers. They lock Lars up and Peter goes home. Because of this new development it is decided that the mothers with small children will also pull bricks down the mountain to the clearing, in addition to the children on their sleds.

They feel that it is only a matter of time before the soldier is missed and a search party comes looking for him. When that happens it could all be over.

Snow Treasure Teaching Guide

The next day the children have just finished building their snowmen when the Commandant shows up at the clearing. He asks Lovisa if she's seen a German soldier lost in the woods. Lovisa just stares up at him and refuses to speak.

Snow Treasure Characters

The Commandant becomes enraged and begins knocking her snowman down. Panicked, Peter picks up a snowball and hits the Commandant with it, then runs away. The diversion works and all of them chase Peter. Unfortunately, he is caught and placed in a jail cell in the German camp. Later that night a soldier comes to take away his supper dishes. The soldier is Jan in disguise. He tells Peter that he's there to rescue him.

He hands Peter a letter from Victor that tells him to do as Jan says. They manage to escape and make their way back to the boat. Because the Germans are likely to find them if they stay any longer, it is decided that they will all set sail for America immediately. Victor has found out that the Americans are very interested in the information that Jan has, and so will grant him entrance to the country without papers.

Victor sadly tells Peter that they can't risk taking him home, and that he needs to come with them. Peter understands but is sad to think that he might never see his family again. Victor tells him that they have an Uncle living in Wisconsin that they can live with until the war is over. He tells Peter that what he and all of the other children did for their country will never be forgotten. This section contains 1,770 words (approx. 5 pages at 400 words per page).