Shadow on the Mountain
Margi Preus
Language: English
Pages: 320
ISBN: 1419711598
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Preus incorporates archival photographs, maps, and other images to tell this story based on the real-life adventures of Norwegian Erling Storrusten, whom Preus interviewed in Norway.
Praise for Shadow on the Mountain
STARRED REVIEWS
"Newbery Honor winner Preus infuses the story with the good-natured humor of a largely unified, peace-loving people trying to keep their sanity in a world gone awry. Based on a true story, the narrative is woven with lively enough daily historical detail to inspire older middle-grade readers to want to learn more about the Resistance movement and imitate Espen’s adventures."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"This engrossing offering sheds light on the Norwegians’ courage during World War II. Preus masterfully weds a story of friendship with the complications faced by 14-year-old Espen and his friends as Nazi restrictions and atrocities become part of their everyday lives...This is at once a spy thriller, a coming-of-age story, and a chronicle of escalating bravery. Multidimensional characters fill this gripping tale that keeps readers riveted to the end."
—School Library Journal, starred review
"A closely researched historical novel... relates this wartime tale with intelligence and humor...Ms. Preus deftly uses together historical fact (Espen is based on a real-life spy) and elements of Norwegian culture to conjure a time and place not so terribly long ago."
—The Wall Street Journal
"Margi Preus, who won a Newbery honor for Heart of a Samurai, returns with another riveting work of historical fiction... This fine novel, which includes an author’s note, a timeline, a bibliography and even a recipe for invisible ink, is based on extensive research... The result is an authentic coming-of-age story, perfect for readers fascinated by the diary of Anne Frank or Lois Lowry’s classic, Number the Stars."
—BookPage
"The final chapters, which chronicle Espen’s dramatic escape to Sweden—days and nights of mountain skiing, Nazis in hot pursuit—take the book into adventure-thriller territory without losing the humanity that characterizes Preus’s account."
—The Horn Book Magazine
"Preus makes crystal clear the life imperiling risks that Espen undertakes and the danger to his family."
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"As readers understand the risks that Espen took, they will want to learn more about this period. That Espen escaped to Sweden by traveling at night on skis with five different guides should intrigue them.”
—Library Media Connection
Awards
VOYA Top Shelf for Middle School Readers 2012 list
2013 Notable Books for a Global Society
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award
Dust on the Sea (Bluejacket Books)
The Rithmatist (The Rithmatist, Book 1)
Collateral Damage (24 Declassified, Book 8)
The Wizardry Consulted (Wiz, Book 4)
Unhappily Ever After (The Librarian, Book 2)
Birthright: Battle for the Confederation
Prime minister. In May, the Allied forces withdrew from Norway, and in early June, King Haakon and other members of the government left Norway for England and the Norwegian military disbanded. Nazi Germany was now occupying the country and was fully in control. Or were they? The occupying Germans had expected Norwegians to welcome them as their protectors against the Soviet Union. Fair-haired, blue-eyed, tall and fit, the Norwegians embodied the ideal of the Aryan race, which, according to.
Offered you ham sandwiches, beer flowed from springs in the ground, the cows milked themselves, and hens laid eggs ten times a day. By the time their work for the day was done, the boys had a name for their hut: Oleanna. Espen wished like anything that Kjell could know about it. His friend would have loved to help build this secret place. When completed, it would have a heather-covered floor, log walls, and an earth roof. The whole thing would be camouflaged with moss and even a small tree or.
“No,” she said, waving his concern away. “It’s not that bad. Let’s go inside.” He helped her into the house, and she sat down at the kitchen table. When her breathing and color had returned to normal, she gestured to a stack of crispy flat bread and a block of brown goat cheese. Espen shaved off long curls of the sweet cheese to place on top of big squares of bread. He gave one to her and took one for himself. “What did you have to tell me?” Espen asked. “Why don’t you tell me first why you.
Looked down and saw that there wasn’t a body. There was nothing. No body. No guide. No blood, even. Kjell stood at the bottom of the hill, where the body should have been, surveying the scene. “Maybe it wasn’t here,” Aksel said when he reached Kjell. “Maybe it was a little farther along—over the next rise.” Kjell shook his head. “No,” he said, “it was here.” He laughed. “I don’t see what’s so funny,” Aksel said. “You wouldn’t,” Kjell said, still laughing. Aksel didn’t feel like laughing. In.
Russians? Do you want those Bolsheviks coming and taking over our country? What if they invaded Norway, just like they did Finland? Germany can protect us from them.” “You’re crazy,” Stein told him. “No,” Kjell said, “you are. You have your head in the sand.” “You have your head up your—” “Hey, look,” Espen said, standing up. Kjell interrupted him. “Germany is our friend.” “If Germany is our friend, why did they drop bombs on us?” Leif asked. “They wouldn’t have had to if we had followed.