Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters

Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award – Evan Turk Outstanding Nonfiction Book Award, Children’s Literature Council, Southern California A New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2017 NPR’s Best Books of 2017 List New York Public Library’s 2017 Best Books for Kids Top 10 Chicago Public Library’s 2017 Best Books for Kids List Center for the Study of Multicultural Literature’s Best Books List 2017 “Windows and Mirrors” Selection by the New England Children’s Booksellers Association Parents’ Choice Awards Gold Medal California Reading Association Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Awards Gold Medal Junior Library Guild Selection, Fall 2017 A picture book celebration of the indomitable Muddy Waters, a blues musician whose fierce and electric sound laid the groundwork for what would become rock and roll. Muddy Waters was never good at doing what he was told. When Grandma Della said the blues wouldn’t put food on the table, Muddy didn’t listen. And when record producers told him no one wanted to listen to a country boy playing country blues, Muddy ignored them as well. This tenacious streak carried Muddy from the hardscrabble fields of Mississippi to the smoky juke joints of Chicago and finally to a recording studio where a landmark record was made. Soon the world fell in love with the tough spirit of Muddy Waters. In blues-infused prose and soulful illustrations, Michael Mahin and award-winning artist Evan Turk tell Muddy’s fascinating and inspiring story of struggle, determination, and hope.