Snow Treasure

I like Historical Fiction and I am pretty sure that our students would too. But when does their lack of background knowledge make it extremely difficult to read a book. Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan was written in 1942 and tells the story of how the children of Norway smuggled thousands of pounds of gold bullion down a mountain, using their sleds. The children did this right under the Nazi guard's watch. Under the watchful eye of the Nazis the children sled down the mountain carrying the gold bullion. http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/bomma.html

It is a great story and based on events that happened in Norway in 1940. As I read this book, I wondered if we could possibly use it in our classrooms and what kind of supports our kids would need to meet the challenges the book holds. The challenges I see: story being set in Norway, the time period, the children's funny names. the whole idea of sledding and snow, and some of the vocabulary. As a classroom teacher, I would use this book for upper elementary but would really think about those supports our students would need to use it successfully in the classroom.