genevieve foster

Nov 16, 2011

This woman’s work is amazing.

Really.

If you don’t already own her books, you need to know you are missing out.

Her maps are oh, so lovely. Her stories are lively. Her illustrations are the perfect blend of whimsy and simplicity. We have been reading The World of Columbus and Sons and have already learned so much. Did you know Spain wasn’t even a country when Isabella was born? Did you know she had a corrupt older brother? Did you know she had integrity at a very young age and would not accept the queen-ship when her corrupt older brother was still king, even when the Archbishop begged her to. Did you know Columbus was named for St. Christopher who was given the job of carrying people across the sea?

I can’t find many of her illustrations online and my camera batteries are dead, but here is a taste of what is inside:

One of her maps…oh, I wish I could draw like this!

Through Herculean efforts we are going to try to read three of her books this year, The World of Columbus and Sons, The World of Captain John Smith, and George Washington’s World. Keziah is doing The Beautiful Feet Early American History program and somehow it covers The Vikings to the Civil War…a very long time period, so we are going to try to cover the same eras in Foster’s books. But each book is about 400 pages, so we will just try our best and see how far we get.