The Egg Tree is a 1950 book by Katherine Milhous

Katherine Milhous

Katherine Milhous was a newspaper illustrator and book designer.Milhous won the 1951 Caldecott Medal for The Egg Tree about her family's Easter traditions. She illustrated The Silver Pencil by Alice Dalgliesh, which won the 1945 Newbery Honor. Milhous was born in Philadelphia.-References:...

 that won the 1951 Caldecott Medal

Caldecott Medal

The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children , a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published that year. The award was named in honor of nineteenth-century English...

, based on the author's family tradition. It tells the classic tale of a Pennsylvania Dutch

Pennsylvania Dutch

Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

, with its main characters being Katy and Carl. One day, near Easter, they look for Easter egg

Easter egg

Easter eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans...

s and find eggs that their grandmom had painted on a tree. They are interested, so they ask their grandmother about the eggs. They eventually create one, and it becomes a big success the next Easter.