Residents along the Mississippi Gulf Coast thought Walter Anderson was odd, rowing across twelve miles of open water in a leaky skiff to reach Horn, an uninhabited island without running water or electricity. But this solitary artist didn’t much care what they thought as he spent weeks at a time on his personal paradise, sleeping under his boat, sometimes eating whatever washed ashore, sketching and painting the natural surroundings and the animals that became his friends. Here Walter created some of his most brilliant watercolors, work he kept hidden during his lifetime. In a beautifully crafted picture book biography, writer Hester Bass and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis pay homage to an uncompromising American artist.

“He pinned a note to the screen door of his front porch: GONE TO HORN ISLAND. A star was still shining in the sky, a cricket song hung in the air.”

“The Secret World of Walter Anderson” is written by Hester Bass and illustrated by E. B. Lewis. Published by Candlewick Press in 2009. Donated to the library by David Buege from Mississippi, USA ❤️

Photos by Anna Iltnere / Sea Library