 She won the 1971 Caldecott Medal for "A Story a Story" (Atheneum Books, 1970), which she retold from an African folktale,
and the 1976 Kate Greenaway Medal for "The Post Office Cat", her own historical fiction about a London post office.Haley was born Gail Einhart in Charlotte, North Carolina.At "The Charlotte Observer" where her father was art director, she later recalled, "In the art department and pressrooms I soaked up the exciting smells and sounds of the graphic arts.