Some books take a mighty long time between the flash of an idea and the finished book.  If I count the first moment of the idea, ”Big George” (January 1, 2009, Harcourt/Houghton) has been 10 years in the coming.  Or more.

I live in Revolutionary War country, and one day I offered to take my grandson, Nigel, who was five or six at the time, to a house George Washington may or may not have stopped in – or at least one General Israel Putnam, our local hero, had.  He told me he wasn’t interested in things “ancient like George Washington,” adding that I probably was because I was so ancient.  I didn’t dare admit to him that I never had been very interested in George Washington myself.  As far as I knew, there was nothing to know about him except that he was “The Father of Our Country” and the face on the dollar bill.  He simply WAS and that was enough.  That day I began reading up on him.

To find out about the remarkable and surprising man I discovered, you’ll have to read “Big George; How a Shy Boy Became President Washington.”  The story took seven years from the first words typed by me to being the handsome book illustrated by Matt Phelan and published January 1, 2009.  

The first editor I showed it to said “Hmmm,” and never really gave an answer.  Another editor was interested, and had acquired it by the time the first editor got around to telling my agent she might like to take another look at it.  The acquiring  editor left the house (never a good omen), but a second one gave me great editorial comments, and worked hard finding an illustrator.  Somehow none of them struck the acquisitions committee as quite right.  I began to feel like the aging and exhausted Benjamin Franklin on the committee to draft a constitution for the new United States of America, who said, “Gentlemen:  It is not perfect, but I am convinced it is the best we can do.”  Only then was the great document that guides us today agreed to and signed.  

Finally an illustrator was signed on.  I was not enthusiastic about his work, but went along with Franklin’s wisdom.  But for whatever reason, the chosen illustrator never finished the illustrations.  By this time five years had passed.  My editor left, and I figured ”Big George” was nothing more than ancient history.  Then one day, I heard from a new editor, who had some suggestions, which I thought were excellent, and some queries that I agreed needed answers.  I timidly asked about an illustrator and she told me that Matt Phelan was well along on the artwork! 

I liked what I’d seen of Matt’s work, but he hadn’t done anything like ”Big George.” Yet when I saw a picture of his antique wooden drawing table in his studio in Philadelphia, where so much of the story takes place, I knew he’d come through.  

And he did!

Just as George Washington and the struggling American republic had a rough start, trouble wasn’t over for the book.  Harcourt Brace was taken over by Houghton Mifflin early in 2008, and the publication of “Big George” was postponed from September 08 to January 09.  

I was devastated!  One of the things I had discovered about George Washington was how his typical Virginia planter’s attitude toward African slavery changed once he saw how well these men fought.  He became convinced that they had earned the same liberty the rest of the motley crew he’d shaped into an army was fighting for.  Yet, being from the South, he feared it was too soon to abolish slavery, that doing so might tear the infant nation apart.  But he still made the unique gesture of freeing his slaves upon his death and granting the right to stay at Mount Vernon with their friends and families to those who were too old to work.  It sounds like modest humaneness today, but as Abraham Lincoln discovered, it was much more daring.

I was a GOBAMA fan from the beginning, but that he’d actually win the nomination, let alone the election, seemed too good to be true.  So I, at least, wanted ”Big George” to be out there in September, galloping alongside him, and urging Barack Obama on.   A January publication meant that wouldn’t be.

But this nation has been many times blessed.  George Washington proved to be one of those miracles that come exactly when needed.  I often wonder if this United States would have survived without the character of the great, silent soldier, woodsman, and farmer.  

Tomorrow Barack Obama will be sworn in as the first African-American president of the United States—another one of our miracles.  I’m sure George Washington would be pleased and proud.  It’s been a long time coming, but the destiny of this nation is still just, and broad, and glorious!  

In addition, my grandson, Nigel, who wasn’t interested in such ancient history as George Washington 10 years ago, will be among the lucky high school students attending the inauguration!