 Hall had contributed one picture to Baum's 1901 story collection "American Fairy Tales", and in the interim had done abundant work for Baum's publisher Reilly & Britton.Hall specialized in adventure stories, scouting handbooks, and comparable material; he illustrated titles like "Homemade Toys for Girls and Boys", "Carpentry and Mechanics for Boys", and Gordon Stuart's "Boy Scouts of the Air" series of juvenile novels.In a letter dated 7 October 1915, Baum's publisher suggested to him that while the "Aunt Jane's Nieces" series had been "one of your — and our — bread-and-butter winners," it was time to bring the series to its end and start a new venture.