The Hedge School

Gloria Whelan is a poet and award-winning short-story writer who has also written many books for children, including Hannah; Night of the Full Moon; Goodbye, Vietnam and Once on this Island. Several of her books have been IRA Children’s and Teachers’ Choices and Notable Children’s Trade Books in the field of Social Studies. She has received the distinguished Achievement Award from the Educational Press Association of America and the Society of Midland Authors’ 1994 Juvenile Fiction Award. She and her husband live in the woods of northern Michigan.

When asked how she came to write this book [The Miracle of Saint Nicholas], she said, “Alexander Solzhenitsyn describes how as he traveled across the Russian countryside his landmarks along the way were the steeples of village churches—churches that were locked and empty. This sad sight stayed with me and I longed like Alexi to open those churches once again.”