"[1] In 1968 she was a highly commended runner-up for the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's writers.

She attended Buffalo Seminary, a private girls' school, and spent summers with her family on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie.

[5] She then traveled to eastern Asia, riding horseback through the Philippines, exploring Indonesia and China, and sleeping in a Buddhist monastery.

The story of an artist who is painting a picture of Buddha for a group of monks, it won the Newbery Medal for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children".

[1] Nineteenth-Century Children's Writers says "Coatsworth reached her apogee in her nature writing, notably The Incredible Tales".