Gates, Doris (1901-1987), was an American writer for children. She was born in the Santa Clara Valley in California, and used the valley as the setting of her first book, Sarah’s Idea (1938). It tells of a girl who grew up on a prune ranch.
For 15 years, Gates was head of the children’s department of the Fresno County Free Library. Her most famous book, Blue Willow (1940), tells of the dignity and courage of migratory farmworkers. Gates’s other books include My Brother Mike (1948) and Little Vic (1951).
