In the early days of the 19th century when the Doaks were piloting their storeboat down the Ohio river in search of "elbowroom," Phyllis Crawford's ancestors were pushing their way westward from the Carolinas to Arkansas. Born and brought up in Little Rock, Miss Crawford has done her pioneering back to the Atlantic coast via Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Va., and the University of Illinois Library School at Urbana.

She reached New York in 1924 and has lived there ever since with the exception of three years in Santa Fe, N. M. Writing was a sideline while editorial work on reference catalogs and book lists for libraries constituted the order of the day. It was during this period that Miss Crawford gained a wide acquaintance with the available literature for children.

Two years of research in American backgrounds followed, and out of the combination of experiences came Miss Crawford's decision to write stories for children about the people who actually built this country without consciousness that they were playing a part in history. So with obvious impracticality Miss Crawford resigned her job and set herself to her task. "Hello, the Boat!", her first full-length novel, was the immediate result. By-products are the author's fatal susceptibility to American folk arts and antiques and a keen desire to explore all the corners of this country, both justifiable in the light of their research value.