1949 - The Big Snow

The twelfth book to be awarded the Caldecott Medal was The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader, published in 1948 by MacMillan.

The Big Snow is the second snow themed book to win the Caldecott Medal in two years.  I was not overly impressed with White Snow, Bright Snow, but I really enjoyed The Big Snow.  While the previous winner concentrated on how a big snow storm affected four people in town, The Big Snow tells how the animals prepare for winter and how they survive after a particularly big snowstorm.

Who were Berta and Elmer Hader?

Berta Hoerner was born on August 1, 1890 in San Pedro, Coahuila, Mexico.  When Berta was three, her family moved to Amarillo, Texas.  Inspired by her mother's colorful sketches of Mexico, Berta took art classes and she became an avid reader, winning literary and artistic prizes.

Berta's father died when she was five years old.  Her family moved to northeast America and then moved again in 1909 to Seattle Washington.  She continued with her painting and reading before going on to attend the University of Washington School of Journalism.  Berta apprenticed at Western Engraving Company where she learned printing and fashion design, illustration, and printing skills.  Her supervisor eventually asked Berta to take over the freelance fashion illustration business in San Francisco, which she did, after a brief stopover in Carmel, California to attend art school.

While living in San Francisco, Berta befriended Rose Wilder Lane and the two women ended up renting a studio together.  It was at this studio where Berta first met Elmer Hader.

Elmer Hader was born on September 7, 1889 in Pajaro, California, but he spent much of his early years in San Francisco.  He was in the National Guard at the age of 16 and helped to restore order after the Great San Francisco Earthquake in 1906.  He worked on a survey party up the American River and returned to San Francico to work as a firefighter in the State Belt Railroad.  Using the money he earned from his work, Elmer paid for his first term at California School of design, earning scholarships to pay for the rest of his schooling.

Elmer was also involved in theater and vaudeville acts in France and the U.S.  He would do "Painting in a Minute" acts and a living statue routine that were so successful that he even considered giving up his career as an artist to become a full-time performer.  Instead, he returned to San Francisco and set up a studio in his parent's attic, where he painted, taught art, and arranged exhibits.  

Elmer and Berta met in San Francisco where they were a part of a larger group of artists and became good friends.  Elmer was drafted by the U.S. Army and was sent to France in 1918.  In 1919, Berta was invited to New York City by Bessie Beatty, the editor of McCall's magazine, to work in fashion design illustration.  Around that same time, Elmer was returning home but decided to go to New York instead of San Francisco.  The two were married in July 1919.

The Haders built a home in the small town of Grand View-on-Hudson.  Since they were building by hand with the help of their friends, it took over twenty years to complete the home.  In the early 1920's, they had a son, Hamilton, who died just after his third birthday from meningitis.  The Haders retreated to Maine for a while to grieve, but then returned to New York to continue their work.

Using Berta's connections, the two of them used their talents to prepare cut-out children's sections for Good Housekeeping, McCall's, Pictorial Review, Asia, Century, and The Christian Science Monitor.  When the U.S. Postal Service stopped allowing cut-out sections in magazines, the Haders decided to go a different route.  They signed a contract with MacMillan Publishing for a series of children's books, putting out such books as: Mother Goose Picture Book and The Mighty Hunter.

In total, the Haders illustrated more than 70 books, writing about half of them, before they retired in 1964.  Writer John Steinbeck was so impressed with their 1936 book Billy Butter,, that he asked Elmer to do the cover of his book The Grapes of Wrath.  Elmer would go on to do the covers of Steinbeck's East of Eden (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)  and The Winter of Our Discontent (Penguin Classics).

Elmer Hader died on his 84th birthday, September 7, 1973.  Berta died just a few years later on February 6, 1976.

The Illustrations

The illustrations in The Big Snow alternate between color and black and white.  The story begins with Mrs. Cottontail seeing the the flock of geese flying south.  She explains to her littlest rabbit that means winter is coming and he needs to eat plenty of cabbage leaves and carrot tops to help grow his thick winter coat.

"He couldn't speak because his mouth was full of carrot tops."

The book follows the geese as they fly over a little groundhog, Mrs. Chipmunk, a blue jay, a couple of cardinals, some song sparrows and robins, a brown wood rat, two ring-necked pheasants, three black crows, squirrels, white-footed wood mice,  and white-tailed deer who all knew the sign of the impending winter.

We then move on to the "hill-dwellers" and see the skunks, raccoons, rabbits, and mice prepare for winter and frolic in the snow.

But it is the night after Christmas when the wise owls saw the "rainbow around the moon".  That could only mean one thing.  A BIG snowstorm is coming.

I love, love, LOVE how the Haders showed the worry in the animals' faces as they realized what was coming.

A big storm comes in over night, weighing down trees and covering houses.

The next morning, the birds, rabbits, and hill-dwellers are hungry.  But when they go searching for food, all they find is snow everywhere!

But then the jay birds caught sight of an old man in a red cap shoveling his walkway.  

Behind the old man, an old woman came out of the house and sprinkled nuts and seeds and breadcrumbs on the snow and walkway.

The jays returned to the hungry animals and told them what they found.  The birds and deer and rabbits all hurried down to the house to get their fill of nuts and seeds and breadcrumbs.

The Big Snow is a wonderful story, particularly for any young animal lovers.  It explains hibernation and which animals hibernate and which do not.  It also gives you the great idea of helping animals who need to hunt and can't because of a large storm.  Showing the woman doing something as simple as scattering seeds, nuts, and breadcrumbs for the animals was a nice touch.

This was a sweet story, a little long for younger kids, but very informative for kids who are a little older, maybe 6 and up.  But this is definitely a book you want in the library of a young animal lover.

1949 Caldecott Honor Books

Blueberries for Sal (Viking Kestrel picture books) by Robert McCloskey
All Around the Town, illustrated by Helen Stone, written by Phyllis McGinley
Juanita, by Leo Politi

Fish in the Air by Kurt Wiese