Charles Hand Geer (August 25, 1922 – December 7, 2008) was an American illustrator of children's books, two of which he wrote. He also designed numerous book jackets. Geer grew up on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York, attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, and then served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during World War II. Following the war he attended art school at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

. Many of the buildings in his illustrations feature

Second Empire architecture Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as i ...

, with their characteristic

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

s. Geer lived until his death in 2008 in

Rockland, Maine Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 6,936. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination. It is a departure point for the Maine State ...

, where he enjoyed

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

and painting

watercolors Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

. Over the years he built several boats.

Selected works

As illustrator

*
Game of Statues
' by Anne Stevenson * ''Schoolboy Johnson'' by John R. Tunis * ''Mystery at Redtop Hill,'' by Marjory Schwalje, 1965 * ''The Mad Scientists' Club,'' by

Bertrand R. Brinley Bertrand R. Brinley (19 June 1917 in Hudson, New York – 20 October 1994 in Luray, Virginia) was an American writer of short stories and children's tales. He was best known for his '' Mad Scientists' Club'' stories. The stories in ''The Mad ...

* ''The New Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club,'' by Bertrand R. Brinley * ''The Big Kerplop,'' by Bertrand R. Brinley * ''The Big Chunk of Ice,'' by Bertrand R. Brinley * ''The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald,'' by

Clifford B. Hicks Clifford B. Hicks (August 10, 1920 – September 29, 2010) was an American writer and magazine editor, best known for his children's books chronicling the adventures of Alvin Fernald. Biography Hicks was born in Marshalltown, Iowa in 1920."Hicks, ...

* ''Miss Pickerell on the Moon,'' by Dora F. Pantell * ''Miss Pickerell and the Weather Satellite,'' by Dora F. Pantell * ''Miss Pickerell and the Blue Whales,'' by Dora F. Pantell * ''Miss Pickerell and the War of the Computers,'' by Dora F. Pantell * ''Miss Pickerell and the Lost World,'' by Dora F. Pantell * ''Wild Geese Flying,'' by

Cornelia Meigs Cornelia Lynde Meigs (1884–1973) was an American writer of fiction and biography for children, teacher of English and writing, historian and critic of children's literature. She won the Newbery Medal for her 1933 biography of Louisa May Alcot ...

* ''That Summer With Lexy!,'' by Audrey McKim * ''McNulty's Holiday,'' by Rutherford Montgomery * ''Sauncey and Mr. King's Gallery,'' by Clara Ann Simmons * ''The Biggest (and Best) Flag That Ever Flew,'' by Rebecca C. Jones, 1988 *''The Story of

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

,'' by Arthur J. Beckhard, 1956 See Catalog number B0021. *
Katie Kittenheart
' by Miriam E. Mason. Macmillan, 1957. * ''

Lost in the Barrens ''Lost in the Barrens'' is a children's novel by Farley Mowat, first published in 1956. Later editions used the title ''Two Against the North''. It won Governor General's Award in 1956 and the Canada Library Association Book of the Year for Ch ...

'' by

Farley Mowat Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Can ...

* ''Sandro's Battle,'' by David Scott Daniell, 1962 (jacket only) * ''The Pipe Organ in the Parlour,'' by Lilla Stirling, 1960 * ''Secret Under Antarctica,'' by

Gordon R. Dickson Gordon Rupert Dickson (November 1, 1923 – January 31, 2001) was a Canadian-American science fiction writer. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2000. Biography Dickson was born in Edmonton, Alberta, ...

* ''The Secret Raft,'' by Hazel Krantz * ''Plain Girl,'' by Virginia Sorensen * ''Gretchen of Grand Pré,'' by Lilla Stirling * "The Lonely Mound," by William Campbell Gault (cover illustrator)

As author

* ''Dexter and the Deer Lake Mystery'' (1965) * ''Soot Devil'' (1971) * ''The

Pipe Organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

in the Parlour'' (also by Lilla Stirling, 1960)

References

External links

Happy 85th, Charles Geer! (Illustrator, "The Mad Scientists' Club" by Bertrand Brinley)

familysearch.org
nbsp;— U.S. Social Security Death Index for Charles H Geer * * * * * https://www.facebook.com/CharlesGeerillustrator/?fref=ts American illustrators 2008 deaths 1922 births 20th-century American male writers Dartmouth College alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II Pratt Institute alumni {{US-illustrator-stub