Gates was a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and the University of San Francisco. Also in 1940, Gates began working for San Jose State College, teaching children's literature and storytelling. Two years later Blue Willow, a book about the daughter of a migrant farmer like those she worked with, appeared. Her first published book, Sarah's Idea (1938), is about a girl who wants to buy a burro and helps with the harvest on her family's prune ranch to earn the money she needs. Budget constraints caused the library to cut back its hours, so Gates used her extra day off to begin writing. She also visited the schools erected for the children of workers displaced by the Dust Bowl, telling stories and sharing books. While in Fresno, Gates had a radio program telling stories to children. She returned to Fresno to work as the children's librarian at the Fresno County Library in central California from 1930 to 1940. After one year Gates took a leave of absence to study library science at Western Reserve University, (now Case Western Reserve) in Cleveland. She then became the assistant in the children's department of the Fresno County Free Library. Two years later Gates attended Los Angeles Library School.
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