- Title: Mudkin
- Author: Stephen Gammell
- Illustrator/Photographer: Stephen Gammell
- Number of Pages: 32
- Publisher and Year: Carolrhoda Books, 2011
- Genre: Fantasy
- Analysis: Mudkin is the story of one little girl’s extraordinary day playing outside after a rain shower. The girl meets Mudkin, a friendly creature made of mud, who makes her the queen of a mud kingdom. The girl rules over Mudkin, and others like him, until a rain shower washes everything away. Although she is no longer queen, the crown Mudkin gives her lasts forever.
While I don’t see Mudkin as a window, mirror, or door, I do believe it is a story that is very relatable for many readers, young and old. The nostalgic feeling of being sent outside to play after a rainy day and letting your imagination run wild, is something which resonates with the young child in all readers. On the front cover of the book, Mudkin is front and center. I feel that this depiction of Mudkin symbolizes his importance throughout the book. Since Mudkin is a figment of the young girl’s imagination, this picturebook code can also be symbolic of her imagination and the fact that it is a driving force in the story.
Although, Mudkin is not a picture book, the book has multiple pages with no text that help to advance the story. I feel that this further plays with the concept of imagination in the story, because the reader gets to create their own dialogue for these pages. Moreover, when Mudkin speaks to the little girl, his dialogue is illegible. Where words would usually be, are instead, smudges of mud where the reader must use context clues to interpret. For younger readers, however, they might create a completely different dialect for the story than would older readers who are aware of context clues. In doing this, I believe that the author further relies on children’s imagination to help with the story.
The illustrations in Mudkin were drawn with watercolor paint, and this makes sense because the story takes place after a rain shower, so everything is wet. A lot of the drawings are also messy in a way; this adds to the depiction of playing in mud and getting dirty. Mudkin benefits from the illustrations in it; I believe that they add to the story. Overall, Mudkin is a tribute to a child’s imagination. Even when days are gloomy, children can still find ways to make the best of them. I believe that Mudkin does a great job in capturing that portrayal.
