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Katherine Milhous illustrated several books by the famous children’s author Alice Dalgliesh: America Begins, in our library, Wings around South America, They Live in South America, The Little Angel: A Story of Old Rio, and The Silver Pencil. She won the 1951 Caldecott Medal for best picture book with her own book, The Egg Tree. She was from Philadelphia and most of her books are set in various people groups in the Pennsylvania community. She worked during the Great Depression in the Works Progress Administration (WPA), creating posters that promoted Pennsylvania. The artwork in those posters was typical of her artwork displayed in her book illustrations. Milhous is another good example of the fairly rare case of an artist who also wrote well and produced a body of good books.
This review is about Milhous’ book, Snow Over Bethlehem, written and illustrated by her, which tells a true story that happened in the Moravian pioneer community in Pennsylvania in 1755. The Moravians were a Protestant Christian group that came from Bohemia and Moravia in Europe, an area that is now part of the Czech Republic. Their leader was a wealthy aristocrat, Count Zinzendorf, by all accounts a good leader and a godly man. He gave refuge to the Moravians on his estate and helped them achieve a global, missionary vision. In 1732, their first missionaries were sent to the West Indies islands. In 1741, a Moravian group bought land in Pennsylvania and set up the towns of Nazareth and Bethlehem. Later on, they also founded the town of Lititz, Pennsylvania. All three towns still exist today.
The book, based on an historical event, takes place in 1755, when the threat of Indian attacks was still very real, even though there were a number of Native Americans who had become Christians through the witness of the Moravians. The pioneers consolidated their people, the ones who had survived the raids so far, into the town of Bethlehem. It was near Christmas time and the children were missing their usual Christmas celebrations, which involved the setting up of elaborate Christmas cribs, what we would call nativity scenes or creches. The Moravians also loved music, and had the tradition of bringing in Christmas Day with a glorious brass choir consisting mainly of trombones. However, their holiday planning was overshadowed by the threat of a large Indian attack thought to be planned for the dawn of Christmas Day. How the Christmas cribs, the trombone chorus, the Native American converts, and the planned Indian attack all come together is the theme of Milhous’ book, which is simultaneously touching, real, and exciting, exhibiting profound spiritual depth. An additional theme, at least for the adults and younger children, is the memories of the Old World and how they compare to the New World of America. The reading level is upper elementary school, though older children will enjoy the book. The elegant but simple language of the book also makes it a very nice read-aloud for younger children.