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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 cat (Merrie
Emma), and hundreds of books. Up until this past April there was an
old Scottie too, but Maudie got sick and died. She was almost 13 years
old.
Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home & Museum
Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society
William Anderson Books
Betsy-Tacy Society
Independence, MO
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.
Brandywine River Museum
Jessie Wilcox Smith Biography
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.
The History Net
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.
Bluestocking Press
Society of Children's Book Writers and
Illustrators
www.historychannel .com
www.besthistorysites.net
www.hyperhistory.com
VACATION
Friends, books (murder mysteries in particular), movie theaters, and
sewing - 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
Harper-Collins
Children's Book Council
National Geographic
Missouri Association of
School Libraries
SimonSaysKids.com
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