Miracles on Maple Hill: A Newbery Medal in Erie County
Near Erie, Pennsylvania
In the mid-twentieth century, a writer named Virginia Sorensen spent time in Edinboro, in this corner of northwestern Pennsylvania, and what she observed here became a celebrated children's novel. Her book, Miracles on Maple Hill, drew on the centuries-old maple syrup traditions of Erie and Crawford Counties, weaving together farm life, seasonal rhythms, and the restorative qualities of rural living into a story about a city family rebuilding itself in the country. It won the nineteen fifty-seven Newbery Medal, the highest honor in American children's literature.
The maple sugar industry she depicted had deep roots here, tied to Indigenous practices that long predated European settlement. Sorensen found a story about recovery and renewal in the Pennsylvania maple woods, and the award confirmed she had found something universal.
