[2] Merrill received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Theatre in 1944 from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

[2][4] Merrill started writing books while working at Literary Cavalcade, including Henry, The Hand-Painted Mouse (1951) and The Woover (1952).

Set in New York, the book was written in the style of a historical report from the future, looking back at earlier events from a class warfare struggle between trucking companies and pushcart owners.

Alberta Eiseman of The New York Times wrote that "it's rare to find a book for young people with both a point of view and a sense of the ridiculous.

In The New York Times Book Review, Natalie Babbitt wrote that "her fable is a satisfying sandwich in which the peanut butter, sticky and nourishing, slides down with ease due to judicious use of jelly.

Set in East Cleveland, the story relates how a Caucasian sixth-grader girl who just moved into town becomes friends with her neighbor and classmate, an African-American boy entrepreneur, and becomes rich by selling their home-made toothpaste.