Jan 6, 2014
Everyone knows that Thomas Jefferson did some extraordinary things for the United States --- he was a Founding Father, the principle writer of The Declaration of Independence and the third President. But did you know that he also played violin three hours every day, collected everything from maps to Native American artifacts and loved growing vegetables in his garden, especially peas? We didn’t! Maira Kalman explores all sides of this fascinating man in her gorgeous new picture book THOMAS JEFFERSON: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Everything, including his interests, his contributions to the United States and even his monumental flaws. In this interview, Maira takes us behind the scenes and talks about her influential visit to Jefferson’s Virginia mansion, Monticello, some of her artistic decisions, and the one question she’d ask Jefferson, given the chance. Read on!