John Himmelman's Stories' Stories

Book #24

Young George Washington, America's First President

Written by Janet Woods

Illustrated by John Himmelman

September 1991

Troll

I really loved doing this book! It was the second of three "Young" biographies. Finishing Young Christopher Columbus gave me more confidence to take this one on. 

And this may sound kind of corny, but it sort'a kind'a felt like an honor to be illustrating the life of George Washington, the father of our country.

It's not surprising there was no reference of what George looked like as a child. We know his hair color and can figure out what he wore, and how he wore it, based on paintings and etchings of children at the time. 

Watch that gutter! You have to be careful not to drop any important part of you picture in the gutter of the opened book. You also don't want body parts cropped at the joints in the gutter or borders. For some reason, that just doesn't look right. Maybe part of it is that makes it look as if the illustration was not planned for that space. I don't know. I just know it doesn't look right.

Again, I visited many libraries to get the reference I needed - the guns, the swords, the head dresses and uniforms... I'd come back from my run with stacks of books and xeroxed pages. I've often considered this the best part of a new nonfiction project - the research. 

Enjoy your retirement, George and Martha. You earned it.

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