Phantoms in the Snow

When fifteen-year-old Noah's pacifist parents die of the smallpox in Texas, he is sent to Camp Hale, Colorado to stay with his uncle James Shelley whom he has never met. James is part of a rough-and-tumble mountain skiing unit, and the commanding officer is less than pleased that Noah is there, so he and his uncle agree that he will train with the unit. Noah has never skied, and believes that war and fighting are bad, but he bonds with his uncle and the other men, and learns about what is going on in Germany under Hitler. Training is rough, and it comes out that Noah is not quite old enough to train, but when he turns 16, he enlists with his uncle's permission. When the unit (the Tenth Mountain unit, or the Phantoms) ships out to Italy, Noah gets a taste of fighting and war, but realizes that helping people who have been suffering under the German occupation is worth it, even when he loses several friends.

Noah Garrett has just lost both parents to smallpox. He has no brothers or sisters. And has no grandparents to take care of him. It is 1944. The country is well into World War II, and none of his neighbors have the resources to take in a fifteen-year old.

Luckily, Noah has uncle in the army stationed in Colorado. Unfortunately, the two have never met. In fact, when Noah first arrives at Camp Hale, his Uncle Shelley doesn't even know who he is. Noah has to remind him about the sister he had and hasn't seen since she was ten, and that Noah was her child.

Needless to say, the two get off to a rocky start. Noah is not happy about being thrust into this situation, having to train like the soldiers he is surrounded by to earn his keep. And his uncle, a carefree loner who likes the occasional party, doesn't like this new-found responsibility.

Without giving too much away, Uncle Shelly and Noah do find common ground. Noah finds himself in the fight, but his training was most enjoyable for me. One of his trainers, Olaf, is a bit unorthodox in his techniques. He tells Noah to dig a foxhole. Olaf says that is should be deep enough to protect him from the Germans. Noah digs a hole he thinks is deep enough. Olaf tells him to get into it. While Noah is laying down inside, he hears a tank start up. Before he knows it, Olaf is driving over Noah's foxhole. Luckily, the hole is deep enough, but just barely.

One of the major issues I had with his novel was that Noah, at fifteen, was allowed to be incorporated almost seamlessly into this elite force of solders called the Phantoms. The Tenth Mountain Division, or Phantoms, were soldiers trained blend into the snow and fight on skies.

But in the author's afterword, Duble states that the military allowed boys who were fifteen into the forces as long as they had their parent's permission. Given the uncle's status in the Army, a renegade, but a strong soldier, and the fact that the Army was desperate for warm bodies to fight in Europe, it is quite possible Noah would be admitted.

All in all, I thought this was a very strong novel with a unique angle. I love the fact that these were not ordinary soldiers. They had something many young readers might not be familiar with. They were on skis, and that they fought the Italians.

I think most of my students know about Hitler and the Nazis and concentration camps, which is a factor in the book. But most, I think would be surprised to know that there were a number of battles fought on mountaintops.

I highly recommend PHANTOMS IN THE SNOW. Several of my students saw the book in my hands, asked about it, and when I told them, they immediately asked to borrow it. A couple of my students would like to join the military when they graduate, and I think this book would be a perfect fit for them.