Margi fell in love with the story of Snowshoe Kate and is excited that others are, too!
early reviews
“An engaging narrative showcasing an exceptional woman, a time, and a place not often featured in picturebook biographies."
— Booklist
"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."
— Publisher’s Weekly
"Memorable pictures of what a worthy life, and a million pennies, might look like."
— Kirkus
ABOUT THE BOOK
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 sometimes used snowshoes to reach her patients, which lead to her nickname, the "Angel on Snowshoes." She also traveled by snowmobile and even the snowplow!
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.
Jaime Zollars is the illustrator of the middle-grade novel Wicked Nix and the artist behind the iconic covers of the Greenglass House series. She is also the author-illustrator of the picture book The Truth About Dragons. Her art has been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, the Society of Illustrators, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, among others. She lives in Southern California.
Release date: October 28, 2025
