Her childhood also included time spent on her grandfather's tobacco plantation; on North Carolina's coastal islands; and in the Appalachian Highlands.

Then for eight years, all the while hoping to return to art, Credle held a variety of jobs: salesgirl, librarian, guitarist, soap distributor, "imported" Japanese lampshade painter, and usher at Carnegie Hall.

[6] Credle said, "If I had to choose the circumstance that was most important in turning me toward a career of writing and illustrating for children, I should say it was the fact that I saw myself running out of money during the year that I had chosen to study art in New York.

Fortunately, this employment afforded Credle a full day off each week to pursue her dream of becoming a children's book author.

[2][8] A friend gave her the use of his studio during the day, and Credle found the elegant space more conducive to creative endeavor than her cramped apartment.

Another advised her to limit her pallette to fewer colors, since publishers would be hesitant to invest the money required to print full-color illustrations.

Credle heard a rumor that her job drawing reptiles would soon be coming to an end, and decided to head home to North Carolina for a time.

But in seeking help from the YWCA to return to New York City, Credle was placed in a woman's shelter which was situated in a beautiful mansion.

Once back in New York, Credle was put to work under the newly organized W.P.A., and she painted a series of murals for the Brooklyn Children's Museum.

She recalled later walking along a path near her North Carolina home, and being reminded of the scarf upon seeing a broken brown branch with brilliant blue berries.

[8] After much perseverance, Credle had finally found her initial and greatest triumph as an author with Down Down the Mountain (1934) which has been called "the first picture book ever done of the Blue Ridge country.

"[6] With dialog presented in an engaging and authentic Southern vernacular, it tells the story of a poor brother and sister who raise turnips, intending to sell the crop to fund the purchase of needed shoes.

The Townsends then went to North Carolina where they collaborated on a photographic story book called The Flop-Eared Hound, which was set on the farm of the author's late father in Hyde County.

[5] Buoyed by continuing success, they next headed out to Blue Ridge country for another photographic story project called Johnny and His Mule.

Meanwhile, her previous publisher withheld her royalties on her work in print for two years, claiming she had broken an option clause in her contract.

"[14] Bader surmised that Credle's next book about a black child, The Flop-Eared Hound (1938), demonstrated that author and publisher had bowed to a growing sentiment against these caricature and dialect issues.

Credle and Townsend presented the story narrated in standard English with extraordinary photographs documenting details of daily life—washing clothes, getting water from the well, plowing, fishing, gathering persimmons, picking and drying cotton, feeding pigs, cooking, reading the Bible, and riding to church in a buggy.

Ellis Credle's artwork drew a comparison to Thomas Benton's in terms of "the undulating line, the surface agitation," as well as its "restless energy."

[9] The New York Times said in 1934 that Credle's illustrations have "zest and humor and a sympathetic understanding of the mountain country," and the same paper notes in later reviews the "sturdy simplicity" of her work as well as her "easy, fluid style.

The setting and the attire of characters in Down Down the Mountain, for example, "present authentic material folk culture" of the Appalachian region around the time of the Great Depression.

A drawing of the mother making soap while "dressed in the traditional manner" as well as an illustration of the interior of the cabin, supported by a long description, are specifically praised.

One unimpressed reviewer wrote of her work on Caleb's Luck, "Credle's illustrations... depict the mountain culture but do not extend or interpret the text.

"[17] Even as her career in children's literature flourished, Credle found it difficult to conceive of plots that were fresh enough to satisfy her editors.

She did acknowledge that little children "require well-plotted stories" and will "lose interest if one wanders from the main line and begins dillying and dallying with words.

"[7] Credle often used the folk tales and legends of North Carolina, as well as her own childhood experiences, to provide a ready framework for her writing.

Credle herself described this process as "wasteful and time consuming" but mused that it mirrored the way a lot of lives are lived—"on a trial and error method with finally an objective in sight and a rearrangement to get there.

[20] She also worked with her husband, Charles de Kay Townsend, on books including: Johnny and his Mule; Mexico: Land of Hidden Treasure; and My Pet Peepelo.

The small "Ellis Credle Papers" collection contains primarily sketches from her books and correspondence with her editors, along with a few handwritten manuscript drafts.

[23] In addition to the enduring popularity of her books, another aspect of Credle's legacy is found in the work of her son, Richard Fraser Townsend.