|
Doris Gates (November 26, 1901 – September 3, 1987) was one of America's first writers of realistic children's fiction. Her novel ''Blue Willow'', about the experiences of Janey Larkin, the ten-year-old daughter of a migrant farm worker in 1930's California, is a Newbery Honor book and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award winner. A librarian in Fresno, California, Gates lived and worked among the people described in her novels. She is also known for her collections of Greek mythology. ==Life== Doris Gates was born November 26, 1901, in Mountain View, California, the oldest daughter of Charles Obed and Bessie Louise (Jones) Gates. Her father was a small-town doctor, her mother had a BA from Milton College in classical studies.〔 When she was seven they moved to Charles' parents' prune ranch outside San Jose. It was there, at the age of eight, that Doris began school. According to Gates, her childhood, "even for those times, was unusually happy." She wrote about it in ''The Elderberry Bush''. Later the Gates family moved to Los Gatos. After graduating from high school Gates found work in a library and grocery store. Her father then moved the family to Fresno, and in 1924 she enrolled in Fresno State Teachers College.〔 Two years later Gates attended Los Angeles Library School. She then became the assistant in the children's department of the Fresno County Free Library. After one year Gates took a leave of absence to study library science at Western Reserve University, (now Case Western Reserve) in Cleveland. She returned to Fresno to work as the children's librarian at the Fresno County Library in central California from 1930 to 1940.〔Some sources give the dates as 1931-1940.〕 While in Fresno, Gates had a radio program telling stories to children. She also visited the schools erected for the children of workers displaced by the Dust Bowl, telling stories and sharing books.〔Rehart, Catherine, ''The Valley's Legends and Legacies'', Quill Driver Books, 1996, pg. 267;〕 Budget constraints caused the library to cut back its hours, so Gates used her extra day off to begin writing.〔Silvey, Anita, (editor), ''Children's Books and Their Creators'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, pp 267;〕 Her first published book, ''Sarah's Idea'', (1938) is about a girl who wants to buy a burro, and helps with the harvest on her family's prune ranch to earn the money she needs. Two years later ''Blue Willow'', a book about the daughter of a migrant farmer like those she worked with, appeared. Also in 1940, Gates began working for San Jose State College teaching children's literature and storytelling.〔Hansen, Debra Gold, ''A Pioneering and Independent Spirit'', Trafford Publishing, 2010, pg. 41;〕 Gates was a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; and the University of San Francisco. She also spoke around the country to groups of librarians and teachers. In the 1960s she worked for the textbook publishers Ginn and Company editing the Ginn Basic Readers, a series of reading textbooks for elementary schools.〔Chevalier, Tracy (editor), ''Twentieth-Century Children's Writers'', St. James Press, 1989, pp. 378;〕 Married and later divorced, she moved to Carmel where she bought and rode horses.〔 Several of her later books reflect this interest, including ''A Morgan for Melinda''. In 1971 and 1972 Gates made two trips to Greece, in preparation for a series of books retelling Greek mythology. As she later said, "I had a storyteller's knowledge rather than a scholar's knowledge of the myths".〔 In 1972 she published the first two in a series of books based on Greek myths. She returned to Greece in 1983.〔 Doris Gates died in Carmel, California on September 3, 1987.〔Some sources say Monterey, CA.〕 The children's room at the Central Fresno Library has been named the Doris Gates Room in her honor.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work = History of Fresno County Public Library )〕 Gates' papers are held at the University of Oregon〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work =University of Oregon Libraries )〕 and the University of Minnesota.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work = University of Minnesota )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Doris Gates」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|