"Once my character and I have reached an understanding," she explains, "then I begin the detective work-reading old books, old letters, old newspapers, and visiting the places where my subject lived. Since then, her refreshingly informal historical biographies for children have been widely acclaimed as "unconventional," "good-humored," "witty," "irrepressible," and "extraordinary."In her role as biographer, Jean Fritz attempts to uncover the adventures and personalities behind each character she researches. Generally people don't bother to speak to me unless there's a good chance that I'll take them on." Throughout almost four decades of writing about history, Jean Fritz has taken on plenty of people, starting with George Washington in The Cabin Faced West (1958). A character in history will suddenly step right out of the past and demand a book. "The question I am most often asked," Jean Fritz says, "is how do I find my ideas? The answer is: I don't.
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