MUDDY: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters, written by Michael Mahin and illustrated by me, is finally out in stores! Check out the trailer above (with music by Michael!) and a few snippets of some wonderful reviews so far.
“Lyrically told with a lilting cadence by debut author Mahin. . . . Turk’s mixed-media illustrations leap off the page. . . . The soul of the blues sings out through the pages.”
School Library Journal
"This poetic celebration of Muddy Waters' musical truth is lifted still higher by Turk's extraordinary art.”
“Mahin’s text is engaging, rhythmic, soulful, and written to reflect the
blues that influenced Muddy Waters. . . . Turk’s expressionistic
mixed-media illustrations, many of them double-page spreads, aptly
convey the emotions associated with Muddy Waters’s music.”
The Horn Book
“Like Waters’s music after landing in the Windy City, Turk’s artwork
is electric—wild strokes of marker and oil pastel vibrate with energy.
And Mahin’s equally vivid writing will almost certainly send readers
after Waters’s catalogue.”
* "The words and pictures here mix exuberance with melancholy. Mahin’s words have a beat all their own, capturing the lows and highs with poetic verve. Turk’s watercolor, ink, and collage artwork fills pages, exploding with a neon intensity— the equivalent of a dynamic guitar riff . . . Read the book, then get kids the music.”
* “Turk’s mixed-media and collage artwork roils with waves of darkness
and explosive color, even as it models compositional control, and Muddy
is always defined with an electric hue that keeps him in sharp focus. . .
. Mahin’s lyricism and rolling cadence make the text a readaloud
delight.”
"All along the way through the book, beside those sweet and longing words of the author, are Evan Turk’s amazing illustrations that take your breath away...one of the most extraordinary picture books we have seen this year. Muddy
is a wonderful introduction to the life of a legend as well as an
inspirational and evocative experience of art so well matched to the man
and his blues that you can almost hear the music playing."
So if you haven't already, go pick up your copy at your local independent bookstore or at one of the following links!
And if you do love it, don't forget to leave a review!
