Georgess McHargue

Georgess McHargue was author of 35 books for children and young adults, some focused on archaeology, myth, and history.

She was born in New York City, the only child of Mac and Georgess (Boomhower) McHargue. She was often referred to as “Little G,’’ and, until her death, “G.’’ At 10 months, she posed for Squibb Cod Liver Oil. She was precocious and a storyteller, even in kindergarten. “The world as I knew it was entirely predicated on words - their use and misuse, their dissection, accumulation and glorification,’’ she wrote in an autobiography for one of her publishers.

Ms. McHargue graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard in 1963 with a major in history and literature. She went to New York and got a job in publishing with Golden Press for two years and then, “spent three months traveling around Greece and Italy honing her language skills,’’ she wrote.

Back in New York, she worked as trade-publisher for Doubleday & Co. for five years. “I was active in local and national political campaigns, civil rights organizations and a variety of now-defunct peace and feminist groups,’’ she wrote. “I was splashed with yellow paint at a demonstration on lower Fifth Avenue and partially gassed in front of the Washington Monument.’’

She was nominated for a National Book Award for her first book in 1968, “The Beasts of Never,’’ and wrote many reviews over the years for The New York Times Book Review.

Georgess love of horses remained strong throughout her life. In a poem she wrote, “When I Go,’’ Ms. McHargue expresses her love for them.

It begins, “When I go, I will go with the horses/Look for me where the long manes/and the long grass are tossing together’’ and ends, “Do not look for me among the twittering birds./When I go I will go with the horses.’’