Well, of course a book about blues musician Muddy Waters is the size and shape of a record album! On this book cover, Muddy Waters is framed sitting beneath a 3D-textured script of his name, while surrounded by richly textured patterns resembling Malian bògòlanfini (mud cloth). Illustrator Evan Turk employs visual metaphors throughout Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters (written by Michael Mahin) to relate the life and message of Muddy Waters to readers. He even uses the pages before the story begins.

 

• Endpages: They are the same shade of red as Mississippi Delta mud.


• Half title: Again using designs from bògòlanfini, Turk centers the word Muddy in a design fashioned to resemble a muddy, flowing river. It’s hard to miss the care this illustrator takes with this subject.


• Title page: The blues come from that muddy, blue river, don’t they? That’s where Muddy is from.

We haven’t even begun the story, and the double-page spread that comprises the copyright and dedication pages uses a golden yellow to convey the heat of the Delta. Or, is it the richness of that land? Cotton plants hold up balls of cotton, as if they’re hands offering them up in praise. This hand imagery is replicated throughout the book: when Muddy meets Leonard Chess; the way Muddy holds his guitar; and yet again when people are dancing to Muddy’s music. It's the defiant hand that Muddy flips toward that white farmer who has his arms tightly folded against his chest. In this same scene, the cotton plants again reach up with their "hands," this time surrounding and supporting Muddy. Hands verbalize so much meaning and context. Grandmother’s hand tells little Muddy, “No!” And there’s the image of fully formed, detailed hands when Muddy caresses his grandmother’s face. Hands are for offering and praise.

I am struck by the texture that Turk brings to his work, from the muddy blue river that flows through the Delta to the etched outlines that are characteristic of the illustrator’s work. On his blog, Turk describes how this particular work has been influenced by the Gees Bend Quilters, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Matisse, Picasso, and other great visual artists. They’re all there in the collages, use of color, patterns, and lines in this free-flowing visual story.

Texture brings feeling and emotion to art. It can help bring the reader into the story. Even with all the care and artistry that are used to tell this story, the story remains accessible to readers in much the same way as the blues.

There’s really only one thing left for me to do now: pull up Muddy Waters on YouTube and read the text of this book.

Read the Horn Book Magazine review of Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters.

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