So you must have been a fourth grader in California---the first required reading, I recall. I became quite obsessed with Gates---her books were so evocative of 1930-40s California. Later I figured out where she lived in Carmel, but never did more than see her standing at her picture window, looking out over the bay. Her cottage is gone now, replaced by a McMansion.
I remember Strawberry Girl---it was great story, too. Blue Willow wasn't my Gates favorite, Sensible Kate was. I probably checked it out thirty times and then they discarded it. I always felt they should of given it to me tied with a ribbon! I did manage to get a Gates discard at a Friends of the Library sale---The Cat and Mrs. Cary, set in Carmel.
As for McMansions---well, when a bayside lot alone is worth millions, affulenzia usually wins out over anything quaint and small. I imagine Gates and her husband bought the little shingled cottage after the war, after she had success as a writer for some ten years. He was a lawyer, if I recall correctly. No children.
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So you must have been a fourth grader in California---the first required reading, I recall. I became quite obsessed with Gates---her books were so evocative of 1930-40s California. Later I figured out where she lived in Carmel, but never did more than see her standing at her picture window, looking out over the bay. Her cottage is gone now, replaced by a McMansion.
A boy after my own heart. I came across the book on my own in the public library. Later I read all the Lois Lenski books, Strawberry Girl, etc...
Alas what is the deal with McMansions???
I remember Strawberry Girl---it was great story, too. Blue Willow wasn't my Gates favorite, Sensible Kate was. I probably checked it out thirty times and then they discarded it. I always felt they should of given it to me tied with a ribbon! I did manage to get a Gates discard at a Friends of the Library sale---The Cat and Mrs. Cary, set in Carmel.
As for McMansions---well, when a bayside lot alone is worth millions, affulenzia usually wins out over anything quaint and small. I imagine Gates and her husband bought the little shingled cottage after the war, after she had success as a writer for some ten years. He was a lawyer, if I recall correctly. No children.
You're right. They should have presented you with the book.
I sometimes wish I could travel back to old California before the McMansion affluenze took over.
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