Stephen Gammell is the illustrator of numerous children's books, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Song and Dance Man and two Caldecott Honor books, The Relatives Came and Where the Buffaloes Begin. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife. Stephen Gammell is the illustrator of numerous children's books, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Song and Dance Man and two Caldecott Honor books, The Relatives Came and Where the Buffaloes Begin. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife.
"Mud holds a natural attraction for children it seems, and Gammell
imaginatively plays off that premise with pages full of swirls and
drips of brownish colors set against grays and blues of showery
skies. As the story begins, a young unnamed heroine commandeers her
stuffed animal playmates to come outside for a post-rainstorm romp.
Before long, a splotch of mud catapults skyward, announcing the
arrival of Mudkin, a brown, babylike creature whose head resembles
a Hershey's chocolate kiss. Naming the child his Queen, Mudkin
invites her to play; soon she, too, is reveling in the wet dirt,
wearing a mud cape and a crownlike pointy hat. What a day they
have-complete with a carriage ride to a castle (mud-built, of
course) and a welcome by a bevy of little Mudkins. When the
returning rain washes Mudkin and her earthy costume away, the
youngster gathers up her toy friends, the left-behind hat, and,
with happy memories of a magical day, heads home. For Mudkin's few
phrases, Gammell cleverly places mud splats for dialogue, nudging
children into supplying their own interpretations. There's little
text; the artist's energetic style and rain-splashed colors carry
the story forward." --School Library Journal
--Journal
"An imaginative little girl goes outside to play after a rainstorm.
She meets a brown, blobby creature named Mudkin, who takes her, in
a mud-constructed coach, to his home and asks her to be his
people's queen. Another rain shower washes the creatures--but not
her memories--away. Spare text, all from the girl's side of the
conversation, makes room for Gammell's trademark spattery
illustrations." --The Horn Book Guide--Journal
"Sure, rain showers bring flowers, but they also bring plenty of
mud--the star of Gammell's (How the Nobble Was Finally Found)
exuberant picture book romp. Post-rain, a girl heads out to play,
queen of her stuffed animals and all that she surveys. When a mud
creature with a turnip-shaped head splashes up out of a puddle, the
girl gains a new pal and a new subject who provides her with a
grand robe, crown, carriage, and even a castle, all made out of the
brown muck. As another thunderstorm blows in, Mudkin and his
fantastic kingdom wash away--leaving only the girl's crown. In this
nearly wordless volume, readers see Mudkin's communiqués as
splotches of mud, while the girl's speech is one side of a
conversation that makes perfect sense to her. ('Hi... what's your
name?' [Muddy smudges.] 'Mudkin... it's nice to meet you').
Gammell's signature style--wispy, loose lines with paint splatter
accents--flows freely like a muddy daydream over the spreads. No
doubt that kids will be checking puddles for impish, fun-loving
Mudkins of their own come spring." --Publishers Weekly--Journal
"There's no denying it, and little use trying to stop it. Kids love
mud, and here's a picture book that positively revels in all its
gleefully gloppy glory. A young girl marches out after a rainstorm
with her toys, demanding a good bit of playtime. Out of the ground
springs a little creature that looks kind of like a cross between
an onion and, well, a friendly turd (he even has a cute little
mud-butt). He introduces himself as Mudkin and asks the girl to be
his queen. She's more than happy to oblige, naturally, and they're
off on a sludge-filled adventure. Mudpies? Please. Try a mud
carriage that carries our beaming mud queen up to a dazzlingly
goopy castle where she looks out over a throng of adoring mudkins.
Gammell tells the whole story with hardly any words. The girl has a
few lines of dialogue, but Mudkin's responses are all a scrawl of
indecipherable brown smears, offering a neat chance for kids to
engage and fill in their own ideas for what he's saying. But what
will really bring on the squeals is the joyfully messy watercolors
that look composed of thick, overhand tosses of mud-splatters and
heartily ground-in grass-stains. Just about the perfect book to
cozy up to and for reliving fond memories of pre-bathtime
muckfests." --Booklist, starred review--Journal
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