Have you strapped on your snowshoes this winter in a need-filled attempt to reach your destination?
I love true stories about people who do big things in unexpected ways.
Right now, I think we’ll all need to know that our actions, no matter how local, can cause big ripples.
Author Margi Preus and illustrator Jaime Zollars bring us the astounding true story of Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb, who was known as Dr. Kate as well as the “Angel on Snowshoes.” Set in the 1940s and 1950s, in the northern Wisconsin woods, we learn about this astounding community doctor who wished for a hospital so she didn’t have to spend as much time driving to her patients.
In the winter, roads were often impassable, so Dr. Kate traveled by snowmobile, snowplow, and snowshoes. There were babies to deliver and she needed to be there as quickly as possible.
The book shares Kate Pelham’s circuitous route to becoming a Northwoods doctor, from Boston to Michigan and finally to Wisconsin. When she and her husband moved to Wisconsin for his health, she stopped practicing medicine. But her neighbors needed her doctoring skills, so she passed the exams and began tending to those who clamored for a doctor close by. All of this at a time when female doctors weren’t widely accepted.
One double-page spread shows the circuitous route Dr. Kate traveled daily to visit her patients with her husband as her driver. The art effectively communicates distance and difficulty. I’ve traveled those roads often. The forest is beautiful but it’s easy to get lost!
Another two-page spread shows 300 of the nearly 4,000 babies Dr. Kate delivered. Grasping numbers becomes easier with these visual depictions.
When students at a nearby school decide to collect pennies to build Dr. Kate a hospital, their endeavors provide the tension. You’ll be surprised by how far away their “Million Penny Parade” causes ripples … and contributions.
There are pennies everywhere in this book, falling from the sky on the cover, creating a solid texture on the endpapers, even a singular penny rolling across white pages to accompany us into the story. The art in this book is child-friendly but also majestic. Several pages could be used as math lessons … the children are accumulating pennies and both author and illustrator do their best to help us understand how many pennies it would take to build a hospital.
The Author’s Note adds even more depth to Kate Newcomb’s story. Margi Preus asks us to consider how much healthcare workers do for all of us. There’s a museum to visit in Woodruff, Wisconsin, the site of Dr. Kate’s Lakeland Hospital. We already have a trip on our calendar.
In her Illustrator’s Note, Jaime Zollars shares that she is a visual learner, which explains why she is so skillful at building meaning and understanding into her art.
Margie Preus and Jaime Zollars make a seamless team in telling this empowering story.
More than anything, this book is a reminder of what we can do … together.
Snowshoe Kate and the Hospital Built for Pennies
written by Margi Preus
illustrated by Jaime Zollars
Harry N. Abrams, 2025
Vicki ~ thank you. This story, which I have not read, reminds me of the generations of women “imagineers” who saw the future, realized what was needed to make it happen, and did the work to make it a reality.
Her story inspires me to do the same.
I love how the non-fiction story becomes magical!!
Vicki, I adore this book and it’s lovely to follow your careful reading of the text and expert eye on the illustrations. Thank you!