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George Washington

Author Cheryl Harness
Paperback
$8.99 US
Disney - RHCB | National Geographic Kids
On sale Jan 10, 2006 | 48 Pages | 9780792254904
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Cheryl Harness uses her wonderfully vibrant art and down-to-earth writing style to "chip away the marble" and present George Washington as more than a monument. We see George the adventurous boy, tromping through the woods with his dog and his hunting rifle; George the courageous military leader fighting alongside his men; George the cunning military strategist, outfoxing the British and forcing their surrender at Yorktown; George the brilliant statesman presiding over the Constitutional Convention; and George the President, wisely protecting our country from enemies foreign and domestic so it could grow strong. But through it all, we see George as happiest living as an experimental farmer at Mount Vernon with his wife, Martha. He could have been Emperor of America, but he chose to spend his last years "looking after things that needed doing" at home.

National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.
Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.
LIFE

It began in California on the 6th of July in 1951. It is influenced by a childhood with lots of books mostly about Laura & Mary or Betsy & Tacy or Tom & Huck. I live and work in a brown house near the very center of Independence, Missouri, the Queen City of the Trails. Outside is a tiny yard. Inside is 1 Scottie (Maudie), 1 cat (Merrie Emma), and hundreds of books.

VOCATION

That began with a degree in art education (1973) at Central Missouri State University. After I was a student teacher, I worked as a waitress, and art supply seller, a theme park portrait spinner, a greeting card person at Hallmark Cards and a needlework designer in California. I kept reading and drawing, nursing a crush on the kind of picture-making done by N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, and Jessie Wilcox Smith.

I'd gone to Uri Shulevitz' children's book summer-study in 1984 which gave me the courage to go to New York in 1985 to show editors my willingness to illustrate books for them. Mostly, they weren't thankful. Still, I illustrated ten books, night and weekends, until I quit my greeting card job at Current in Colorado in 1989. I sculpted, designed music boxes and Kleenex boxes, won a Republic of San Marino postage stamp painting prize, and finished writing my first book. I discovered, on the Mayflower, a feel for American History.

My days are filled up with researching, writing, and painting (out of a rusty watercolor box I've used since the first Nixon Administration). I go gallivanting all over the country to see historic places and talk about picture books.

VACATION

Friends, books (murder mysteries in particular), movie theaters, and taking my old Scottie for walks - these are my pleasures. Mostly though, my fun is what I get to do for a living. If someone had told my 10-year-old self that I would get to stay home and read, write, and draw all day, I'd have said, "Oh thank you! Thank you, Fairy Godmother!"

"I'd encourage any young reader to scan their libraries and bookstores for more splendid nonfiction by Harness."

--Knoxville News-Sentinel

View titles by Cheryl Harness

About

Cheryl Harness uses her wonderfully vibrant art and down-to-earth writing style to "chip away the marble" and present George Washington as more than a monument. We see George the adventurous boy, tromping through the woods with his dog and his hunting rifle; George the courageous military leader fighting alongside his men; George the cunning military strategist, outfoxing the British and forcing their surrender at Yorktown; George the brilliant statesman presiding over the Constitutional Convention; and George the President, wisely protecting our country from enemies foreign and domestic so it could grow strong. But through it all, we see George as happiest living as an experimental farmer at Mount Vernon with his wife, Martha. He could have been Emperor of America, but he chose to spend his last years "looking after things that needed doing" at home.

National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.
Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

Author

LIFE

It began in California on the 6th of July in 1951. It is influenced by a childhood with lots of books mostly about Laura & Mary or Betsy & Tacy or Tom & Huck. I live and work in a brown house near the very center of Independence, Missouri, the Queen City of the Trails. Outside is a tiny yard. Inside is 1 Scottie (Maudie), 1 cat (Merrie Emma), and hundreds of books.

VOCATION

That began with a degree in art education (1973) at Central Missouri State University. After I was a student teacher, I worked as a waitress, and art supply seller, a theme park portrait spinner, a greeting card person at Hallmark Cards and a needlework designer in California. I kept reading and drawing, nursing a crush on the kind of picture-making done by N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, and Jessie Wilcox Smith.

I'd gone to Uri Shulevitz' children's book summer-study in 1984 which gave me the courage to go to New York in 1985 to show editors my willingness to illustrate books for them. Mostly, they weren't thankful. Still, I illustrated ten books, night and weekends, until I quit my greeting card job at Current in Colorado in 1989. I sculpted, designed music boxes and Kleenex boxes, won a Republic of San Marino postage stamp painting prize, and finished writing my first book. I discovered, on the Mayflower, a feel for American History.

My days are filled up with researching, writing, and painting (out of a rusty watercolor box I've used since the first Nixon Administration). I go gallivanting all over the country to see historic places and talk about picture books.

VACATION

Friends, books (murder mysteries in particular), movie theaters, and taking my old Scottie for walks - these are my pleasures. Mostly though, my fun is what I get to do for a living. If someone had told my 10-year-old self that I would get to stay home and read, write, and draw all day, I'd have said, "Oh thank you! Thank you, Fairy Godmother!"

"I'd encourage any young reader to scan their libraries and bookstores for more splendid nonfiction by Harness."

--Knoxville News-Sentinel

View titles by Cheryl Harness

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