Hi there,
I was very happy to see your call for an illustrator and I would like to express my serious interest after reading your short brief. You say you have included many references to geographical sites in Egypt and New Orleans, so I assume that you'd need a reasonably realistic depiction, which is what attracts me the most to the project. I think it would be very interesting to find the right balance between what is accurate and what is children friendly. My first idea is pen and ink and watercolours mixed medium with very detailed illustration or children encyclopedia type, with rich, but not overly bright colours. You mentioned 29 pages (segments) so I also assume that you would need one-page illustrations.
Please note that my offer is for original, handcrafted done from scratch art. I'm a traditionally educated artist and I've been working as an old school illustrator for many years. I prefer to work by hand with as little digital tools as possible. As your budget certainly allows commissioning of original, handcrafted art, I thought that you might be interested.
You can see few samples of my recent work at the portfolio section, but I would gladly send more recent work upon request. I can also prepare a simple test illustration for your convenience which might help us determine the style.
I would be very happy to hear from you and I'm available to discuss details over chat.
Dusica