The Secret World of Walter Anderson by: Hester Bass

             This book won the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children and after reading it, I can understand why. I didn't know anything about Walter Anderson, who died from a mysterious illness in 1965, but he was certainly an interesting person.Walter Anderson always wanted to be an artist from the time he was a young child, and he was gifted at drawing and painting. He loved nature and he especially loved to paint nature, so he would often row to a remote island, called Horn Island, off the coast of Mississippi. Here he would stay for a week or two just living with nature and the animals, eating what he had brought with him or what washed up on shore. Humans had lived on the island at one point, but now it was just animals. Walter didn't even bring a tent, he just slept on his boat. He liked to climb trees and wade out in the water or explore the island to paint the nature he loved so much. Walter thought living among the nature on Horn Island was paradise, and he even painted animals after they had died because he felt they were magnificent even in death.
          Walter had one private room at his house that no one was allowed in, not even his wife or children, because this was HIS ROOM. No one knew what was in it or what he did in there, but after he died, his wife did unlock it out of curiosity. No one could believe what was in there. Walter had spent all of his time painting images from the Horn Island nature and animals! He used water colors, and the central figure on the ceiling was a large zennia flower. Walter Anderson is best known for his water color paintings depicting nature scenes from Horn Island, but he also used charcoal, and scultped using ceramics.The book has a few examples of his paintings etc. and one of them uses oil and tempura on stucco. There is also a picture of the actual room from his house that he painted and it is titled, Little Room, 1951-1953, oil on wood.
          E. B. Lewis is the illustrator for this book, and his illustrations really help the reader to grasp what life was like on Horn Island. I am glad I found this book. I do plan on reading it to my third graders, but I think it could be read to kindergartners too. Everyone should read this book at some point and time.