Growing up in a small Maine town, Kate Douglas had not the slightest intention of being an author. She was going to be an actress. Occasionally she considered being a teacher. The cold, cruel mistress of the district school made Kate wonder if education had to be painful. But boarding school was fun. There were "causes" to join, elocution contests which she won, and essay contests at which she was a dismal failure. After a winter in Boston and a flock of suitors, among them the young lawyer, Sam Wiggin, Kate settled with her family in California.

After her father's death, Kate had to make a living. She sold a story, but never dared consider writing as a career. Kate became a kindergarten teacher, one of the first in America. Her Silver Street school in the San Francisco slums became famous and her stories about her pupils were published as books.

This is an absorbing biography of one of the best loved figures in children's literature. The author of REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM, THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL and a score of other books, emerges as person as delightful as any of her own heroines. 

From the dust jacket