I Was a Third Grade Bodyguard

In high school Herm Auch painted sets for school plays, drawings for the yearbook, and was commissioned to do a landscape painting for one of his father's friends. While still in high school, Herm worked as an engraving apprentice for an offset printing company. When it was time to go to college, Herm followed his teacher's prophecy by enrolling as an illustration major at Rochester Institute of Technology, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In the summers between his college years, he worked for an art agency where one of his assignments was illustrating a book. In his senior year at RIT, Herm started working at the Gannett Rochester Newspapers. In 1966, he met MJ Springer, who soon became his wife. For a number of years, Herm had a weekly editorial cartoon called Herm Auch's Rochester. In 1975 Herm and columnist Dick Dougherty were assigned to ride across the country on bicycles, writing and illustrating the Bike Centennial series. In their three month odyssey, the two newsmen found fascinating stories of real people from coast to coast. Herm served as the photographer and illustrator for the project. Herm made his first venture into children's books by illustrating I Was A Third Grade Science Project, written by Mary Jane. After forty years as a newspaper graphic artist, Herm retired in 2000 to pursue a new career as a children's book illustrator.Auch, Mary Jane is the author of 'I Was a Third Grade Bodyguard', published 2003 under ISBN 9780823417759 and ISBN 0823417751.