Hester Bass and illustrator E.B. Lewis have brought us a book about a very special man that most of us readers have probably never heard of, though I certainly am left wanting to know more about.
Jacket description:
" There once was an artist who braved storms, mosquitoes, alligators, and more to speak the language of nature in pencil and paint. His name was Walter Anderson.
Residents along the Mississippi Gulf Coast thought he was odd, pedaling his rickety bicycle in his rumpled clothes and his ragged hat. They thought it strange that he rowed across twelve miles of open water in a a leaky skiff to reach Horn, an uninhabited island swarming with gnats and flies and with no running water or electricity.
But Walter didn't care what anybody thought. he spent weeks at a time on Horn Island, his personal paradise, sleeping under his boat, sometimes eating whatever washed ashore. Here was the place he most wanted to be in the world, sketching and painting the natural surroundings and the animals that became his friends. Here Walter Anderson could fully breathe, and here he created some of his most brilliant watercolors, work that he kept hidden during his lifetime."
I was really impressed with the depth of such a short biography, especially when written for children. The illustrations are magnificent, done in beautiful beachy colors, perfectly accompanying the text and allowing the reader to see some of what Anderson felt when he looked at Horn Island.
The author's note at the end is several pages long and goes into more detail as to what illnesses Anderson suffered from, what his art looked like, and different aspects of his life, making the book appealing to both younger children and older kids. This would be a great asset to any library collection and would make a nice piece to use for a report on a man that many do not know much about.
Loved it!
To learn more, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.
The Secret World of Walter Anderson
Hester Bass
48 pages
Non-Fiction
Candlewick
9780763635831
September 2009
One of the really great things about SCBWI Conferences is getting to know other authors. Katie and I met Hester Bass at our very first SCBWI Conference three years ago. At that conference, Hester relayed (make that, shouted and sang) her Cinderella story of selling her book The Secret World of Walter Anderson to Candlewick Press.
Her book tells the story of the Mississippi artist Walter Anderson, and it is illustrated by the amazing watercolorist
E.B. Lewis. The book is billed as describing "the most famous artist you've never heard of"--but for someone like me who has grown up in Mississippi, he's the first famous artist who's work I loved. I mean, really loved, deeply and passionately.
Walter Anderson painted many of his paintings alone on the islands off of the Mississippi gulf coast. He became one with nature and the animals, even acting like the animals at times to understand their movement and perspective. His artistic voice is unique in it's use of vibrating color and line, and he expresses Gulf Coast nature in a way that no one ever has or ever will again. I grew up going to these islands in my dad's boats, so Walter Anderson's work has personal meaning for me--especially after hurricane Katrina completely altered the landscape of the Mississippi Gulf Coast forever.
I love seeing Walter Anderson receiving national acclaim, and especially children being able to see his work on a national level (his work has been shown at the Smithsonian and there are books about his life written for adults--but this is the first time that his
story has been told for an audience of children).
He is the Van Gogh of the southern United States, and I'm thankful for Hester's persistence and belief in her dream to tell his story.
Here are a few picture's of Walter Anderson's work:
The gorgeous book cover painted by E.B.
Lewis:
And, Hester at my daughter's school where she did a fabulous presentation. The picture next to her is the name of the school (Bramlett) spelled out in Walter Anderson's alphabet that he designed.
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by Suzanne Lieurance
Every week day afternoon at 2:00 CDT, I host Book Bites for Kids, a talk show about children’s books on blogtalkradio. I love talking to the other children’s writers, illustrators, publishers, and editors I interview on the show.
Today it was my great pleasure to interview Hester Bass about her new picture book, The Secret World of Walter Anderson. Generally, authors I interview will have a review copy of their latest book sent to me. And, I have to say, I immediately fell in love with this beautiful picture book the moment I opened it. The detailed, colorful illustrations from Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis set the tone for the story that takes readers into the amazing world of artist Walter Anderson, who spent weeks at at time alone on Horn Island, off the Gulf Coast, as he sketched and painted the natural surroundings and animals he found there.
I hope you listen to Book Bites for Kids. If you missed the live interview this afternoon with Hester Bass, simply click on the automatic blogtalkradio player in the right sidebar of this page to listen to the replay of that interview. No doubt, you’ll enjoy hearing about the adventrues of Hester Bass AND Walter Anderson just as much as I did!
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Bible wins Gold at the Independent Publishers Moonbeam Awards!
Very pleased that the bible I spent a long time illustrating has won an award, (click below to read more about the awards). This coincides nicely with the book's 2nd print run, which brings the total number of books in print to 61,000!
Independent Publisher Moonbeam Awards
The Jesus Storybook Bible has moved up to number 4 on the Christian Marketplace Best Sellers chart, this is great news as this is based on only the first couple of months of sales. If it keeps going at this rate we'll be at No 1 by the end of the summer (the current No 1 has however sold over 5 million copies in total so it maybe be a tough one to beat!).
Today I share the blogging with my son, Evan, age nine, who earlier today wrote an update of our time in the deep south (see below). Evan's comments will be in a bigger font. We just arrived in Bryan, Texas a moment ago, so I don't have much to say about Texas yet except that it is big and dark and rainy. [Oh, I just realized that as I type this, it is techincally by 41st birthday! :-) ]
EVAN: Ok, so yesterday we left Atlanta (we got up at 7:00) and did a 2 and a half hour drive to Alabama, and all Of a sudden, we see this sign that said: ENTERING ALABAMA CENTRAL TIME ZONE . What?! We shouted. Then the clock that before said 9:49 (which was when we were supposed to arrive) went down to 8:49. We could have slept an hour later! Well, at least we get to relive the past hour, said my dad. On the road we made up a game. The game was, if you saw a water tower and shouted torre de agua (that’s Spanish) first, then you would get a point. At the end of the trip, whoever had the most points, won. To me, the driving wasn’t very long, but that’s probably because I was waching tv.
MARK: I love the south. It's green and lush, and the people are friendly and the weather has been beautiful. I also love that it has a chain of grocery stores called Piggly Wiggly. Whevenver we see one, we Hugheses are all about the Piggly Wiggly! I took this picture through the windsheild of our car on our way to Birmingham, AL:
Oh yes, Piggly. I will follow...
One thing I do miss about Massachusetts, though, is the availability of Starbucks. In fact, I've been on a daily quest to find one anywhere near where we go. On the way to Birmingham I found one! I was so pleased, I took a picture of my grande Gazebo blend.
Evan: We went to the Alabama welcome center and my dad and me got Hank Williams posters. Hank Williams is like an Elvis to country music. My dad was very happy. I was happy too, except I had never heard of Hank Williams before this. But I'm sure he must be pretty good.
Mark: Because of the unexpected time-change (what? did we miss a memo or something?), we arrived in Birmingham earlier than planned, which allowed us time to look around. Since Birmingham metal-working played a big role in the city's history, they have a huge statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of the fire and forge.
EVAN: Later, we had lunch with Hester Bass the author of So Many Houses, and her family (father Clayton, kids Anderson and Miranda) in Birmingham. We ate at a Cracker Barrell, a southern place I'd never eaten before. It was good. My mom and dad ate southern food. I ate grilled cheese. It was good. Hester gave us copies of her book, which was very nice of her.
Mark: In addition to being the author of the early reader So Many Houses, Hester is also the author of a soon-to-be released picture book biography of American artist, Walter Inglis Anderson, to be illustrated by the acclaimed E. B. Lewis and published by Candlewick Press. Hester and her family were amazingly kind to drive all the way down to Huntsville to meet with us. It's lovely to meet such wonderful people when you're far from home. Many thanks to the 'Bama Basses, our new friends!
EVAN: Next, we had dinner with the Campbell family In Jackson, Mississippi. I played with three boys named Graem, Nathan and Douglas. They had a big snail called a wolf snail. I let it crawl up my arm. It was so cool!
Mark: Sarah is the author and photographer of an upcoming picture book about wolf snails, snails that eat other snails -- an amazing creature I'd never heard of before. Her photographs are absolutely beautiful and her book will be published in the Spring. Although we were total strangers, Sarah and Richard and their boys fed us and treated us like family. We had a wonderful Mississippi evening which we will never forget -- complete with fireworks set off by neighbors. Thanks you, Campbells, our other new friends in the south!
This morning (actually, yesterday morning now) we stopped by at Lemuria Books in Jackson, a cool independent bookstore with a relaxing atmosphere. Here we are with a very nice bookseller named Ciel.
Lots of traffic problems on the way through Louisianna to Bryan, TX, so it took us much longer than it should have. Still, we're here safe, sound, and happy. Soon I'll actually go to bed.
A big, Texas good night to y'all.
-- Mark
As of today the Jesus Storybook Bible has just hit #26 on the MOVERS AND SHAKERS on amazon.com! It's also currently at a sales rank of 433....
World Magazine has reviewed The Jesus Storybook Bible under excellent christian children's books in Noteworthy Books (Susan Olasky, June 9th).
via Sally Lloyd-Jones
The bible I illustrated has made it to number 7 on the Christian Marketplace bestellers list for June. This list is based on sales for April which was the first month of sales for this book....
Huzzah!
The author of the bible I illustrated, Sally Lloyd -Jones has just e-mailed to let me know that the book was spotted on CBS News: Sunday Morning, in a segment on the history of Bible publishing, highlighting how many different types of bible are available today. Ours was used to illustrate a "bible for kids", pretty impressive considering how many children's bibles there must be to choose from.
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Walter Anderson's work is absolutely stunning! I can't believe I've never heard of him. Off to google...
Beautiful. I'll look him up too. And I used to teach art... *hangs head in shame*
Don't worry, gals, old Walter isn't someone you'll find in an art history survey. I have an MA in Art History, and it wasn't until my graduate work that I discovered him.
Not only was he a painter, but he also produced a wealth of ceramics, and his descendants still work out of Shearwater Pottery, about five minutes from the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs. (See "Dreaming in Clay" Maurer/Iglesias)
Some other great books on his life and art are "Realizations of the Islander" (Driscoll), and "Approaching the Magic Hour" by his wife, Agnes, which I highly recommend.
Agnes once said, "He was a painter always, a lover at times, a husband and father never." He was a prolific artist who was only comfortable surrounded by the nature that inspired his work.
His mother was a graduate of Newcomb College's art program, the old women's college of Tulane University, and was said to have given him his first drawing books.
Thanks for helping to shed some light on this amazing artist and Ms. Bass's addition to the oeuvre. This is the first time I've heard anyone describe him as the VanGogh of the South, the the comparison is apt in many ways.
Thanks again!
~Tere
TereLiz! You are awesome! I should paste your comment into our post.
Approaching the Magic Hour is one of the most incredible books that I've ever read. An amazingly personal story of what it was like to live with this creative genius (Agnes truly enabled Walter Anderson's genius to flourish--without her understanding of his creative needs, I don't think we would have such an unbelievable body of work from this compelling artist).
I tried to sell my car when I graduated from college so that I could buy an original Walter Anderson. My dad wouldn't let me and the stupid car was in his name. Dang it.
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I remember hearing about this book. Anderson's paintings are just amazing. How cool that Hester is helping to make more people aware of him!
*blushes* I do see a typo there. My thesis advisors wouldn't approve. ;)
Thanks, Sarah! Publish or perish, lol!
I met Hester in Chicago at ALA. As soon as she showed me her book's postcard I knew who she was. I remembered her from the article in the Bulletin. What a story. I saw Hester again in LA. A very cool and classy lady!
Yes!!!
PUBLISH OR PERISH!
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I am so glad Hester sold this book! It is truly a remarkable story. Not only is Anderson brilliant, but his life was so peculiar that it's art in itself.
incredible.