Newbery Honor–winner Margi Preus and illustrator Jaime Zollars shed light on a trailblazing doctor known as the “Angel on Snowshoes” in this picture book biography
Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb (or “Dr. Kate,” as she was known to her patients) was a doctor in rural northern Wisconsin during the early 1900s, a time when very few women practiced medicine. Because the nearest hospital was over two hours away and the snowy roads were often impassable, Dr. Kate frequently traveled many miles by snowmobile or snowplow in order to reach her patients, which lead to her nickname, the “Angel on Snowshoes.”
In her years as a doctor, she delivered an astonishing 4,000 babies, and those same children later played a key role in the “Million Penny Parade,” a massive grassroots fundraiser inspired by Dr. Kate’s lifelong efforts to build a hospital in her community. Dr. Kate’s dreams of being able to better serve her community finally came to fruition in 1954 when Lakeland Memorial Hospital opened—with Dr. Kate serving as chief of staff.
From Newbery Honor–winning author Margi Preus and illustrator Jaime Zollars, this picture book biography celebrates a woman who defied gender expectations and dedicated her life to helping the farthest reaches of her community.
Includes author’s note, illustrator’s note, and bibliography.
Praise
"A warm tribute to a Wisconsin country doctor and the community spirit that launched an unusual fundraiser. Memorable pictures of what a worthy life, and a million pennies, might look like."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Preus and Zollars excel at anchoring both human and numerical stories, conveying via first-person prose and crisp, digitally colored graphite images the expansive impact of both one doctor and all those pennies."
—Publishers Weekly
