Carolyn Sherwin Bailey was born in Hoosick Falls, New York and spent her childhood in the little Hudson River town of Lansingburg. She studied at Teachers College, Columbia University and the New York School of Social Work and began writing afterward (an activity which eventually produced thirty-five books). The author and her husband, Dr. Eben C. Hill, lived for many years on Hill Farm, in Temple, New Hampshire, whose antiques and apple orchard inspired the Newbery Medal-winning book Miss Hickory (1947).