"On June 28, 1940, nearly a year after World War II broke out in Europe, the Norwegian freighter Bomma reached Baltimore with a cargo of gold bullion worth $9,000,000," reads the preface of Snow Treasure. "When the Bomma's captain asked for a police escort while unloading the bullion, a strange story came to light. The gold, it was reported, had been slipped past Nazi sentries by Norwegian boys and girls!"And thus an inspirational yet unsubstantiated rumor became the basis for Marie McSwigan's novel, in which 12-year-old Peter Lundstrom and his friends, who live in the small town of Riswyk, carry the gold down the hill from his father's bank on their sleds, one brick at a time, past unsuspecting Nazi soldiers and bury it in the snow, where Peter's uncle Victor will then dig it up and transfer it to his fishing boat. However, once a Norwegian-speaking Nazi catches wind of the Riswyk community's deception, their entire plan is suddenly in jeopardy. —Robert Cass
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