Phantoms in The Snow
By: Kathleen Benner Duble
Plot
In 1944, 15 year old Noah's parents have both died and he is forced to go to a military camp in Colorado. Noah, a pacifist, does not believe in war. Once he arrives at camp, he goes to meet his uncle. At first, his uncle isn't appreciative about Noah's arrival. As time goes on, Noah learns how life in camp works and learns new things along the way. His uncle starts to warm up to him overtime. Months later, he and his division were shipped to war. In this book, you will learn about the wild ride Noah Garrett had throughout World War 2.
Theme
Historical events and places
Camp Hale, Colorado
Camp Hale in Colorado was established in 1942 and construction of was completed in November 1942. The living area for Camp Hale was constructed in Eagle Park, between Leadville and Red Cliff, Colorado. It was used to provide winter and mountain warfare training during World War II. The camp is at 9,300 feet altitude. Their are 4 trails in the camp and the longest T-Bar in the country was put in at Cooper Hill. The site was bought by private owners and by use permits from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. The camp was established in Colorado because of the natural setting of a large, flat valley bottom, surrounded by steep hillsides suitable for training in skiing, rock climbing, the amount of snow, and cold weather survival skills. The size of Camp Hale was anywhere between 5,000 and 247,243 acres during the time that it was used by the military.
In 1945, the Tenth Mountain Division was shipped to Italy by the U.S. Army. Military use of Camp Hale included the 10th Mountain Division and more. Throughout the time that it was used by the military, the Army tested different weapons and equipment in the camp. For 6 years, the CIA secretly trained soldiers inside camp. Camp Hale was returned to the Forest Service in 1966. Camp Hale was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 10, 1992.
Author Reflection
The author mostly kept everything the same as it happened in real life. She did change the age you had to be to sign up to go to war which was 15 but she changed it to 16. All the events in the book actually did happen. Overall, I think the author did a very good job having detailed and accurate information from what actually happened in real life.
Citations
Book-Duble, Kathleen Benner. Phantoms in the snow. New York: Scholastic Press, 2011. Print.
Website 1- "Camp Hale Home Page." Camp Hale Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. <http://www.camphale.org/index.htm>.
Website 2- "Leadville Twin Lakes." Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. <http://www.visitleadvilleco.com/camp_hale>.