Charles Geer Explained

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, New York, attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and then served in the United States Navy during World War II. Following the war he attended art school at the Pratt Institute.

Many of the buildings in his illustrations feature Second Empire architecture, with their characteristic mansard roofs.

Geer lived until his death in 2008 in Rockland, Maine, where he enjoyed sailing and painting watercolors. Over the years he built several boats.

Selected works

As illustrator

• Game of Statues by Anne Stevenson
• Schoolboy Johnson by John R. Tunis^[1]
• Mystery at Redtop Hill, by Marjory Schwalje, 1965
• The Mad Scientists' Club, by Bertrand R. Brinley
• 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
• 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
• 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, by Arthur J. Beckhard, 1956^[2]
• Katie Kittenheart by Miriam E. Mason. Macmillan, 1957.^[3]
• Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat
• 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
• 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 in the Parlour (also by Lilla Stirling, 1960)

External links

• Happy 85th, Charles Geer! (Illustrator, "The Mad Scientists' Club" by Bertrand Brinley)
• familysearch.org — U.S. Social Security Death Index for Charles H Geer

• https://www.facebook.com/CharlesGeerillustrator/?fref=ts

Notes and References

1. Schoolboy Johnson by John R. Tunis
2. Web site: Political: Books 1930–1959 . Americana Resources (amres.com) . September 28, 2007 . 2015-12-13 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928045807/http://amres.com/catalogs/PLB3.asp . September 28, 2007 . See Catalog number B0021.
3. Web site: Book Review: Katie Kittenheart . 2023-03-15 . Kirkus Reviews . en.