Down, down the Mountain

Back in print from Purple House Press! Hetty and her brother Hank wanted creaky, squeaky shoes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains where they lived there were no shoes of this kind, nor did Hank and Hetty have any money. They did have some turnip seeds and these they planted and tended until they had the fattest, juiciest turnips in all that region. They set out to town to sell them. Hetty and Hank's adventures along the way to town and in town, their return home and the things they brought back with them, make a delightful story for all young children. The author lived in the Blue Ridge country and knew people like Hetty and Hank, their Pappy and Mammy, and their many friends. Children and adults will appreciate the skill with which Ellis Credle has caught the flavor of the mountain folk. Down, Down the Mountain was Ellis Credle's first book. In the 1930s she painted murals for the Brooklyn Children's Museum, funded by the WPA and in the evenings she worked on her book. Knowing that publishers avoided printing in full color, she chose to work in blue and brown. Credle recalled liking that combination of colors on a scarf a friend once gave her. Credle brought her manuscript to Thomas Nelson and Sons in New York. An editor "liked it and...this instant approval was the giddiest experience I had ever had with an editor." Still, Credle said that when she was asked to leave the manuscript for consideration, she headed for the elevator with the work in hand. The editor caught her, and made a firm commitment that closed the deal. Down, Down the Mountain has been called "the first picture book ever done of the Blue Ridge country" and it was an overnight and enduring success, selling more than 4,000,000 copies. Fifteen editions were published in English between 1934 and 1973. In 1971 it was honored with a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.