Ringling College Illustration faculty member David Gardner has added another title to his growing list of children’s books. Junia, the Book Mule of Troublesome Creek, is the latest book by New York Times-bestselling author Kim Michele Richardson, whose work frequently honors Kentucky’s Great Depression Pack Horse Library Project.
Gardner’s previous picture books include Write On, Irving Berlin, and The Harvey Milk Story. He has also worked as an artist for Walt Disney Studios, providing background environments for movies like Beauty and the Beast.
For this project, Gardner’s illustrations bring to life the story of Junia the mule, who is responsible for bringing the Book Woman (and her books) to people who live off the beaten path in Depression-era Appalachia. Fans of Richardson’s novels for adults, like The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and The Book Woman’s Daughter, will already be familiar with Junia. Now, a whole new generation will get to know her as the narrator in this book and through Gardner’s depiction.
To achieve Junia, Gardner used references of actual mules but added a sense of personality inspired by his late hound dog, Guinevere.
“She had the personality I wanted to capture with Junia: stubborn, sweet, smart, and playful,” he said.
Guinevere also appears in the book as herself, in a picture depicting a fiddler on the porch at twilight.
Gardner said he is especially proud of a scene in the book depicting a snowstorm, “in part because I spent lots of time in the Smoky Mountains when I was younger and loved the challenge of capturing the feeling of cold and immersion in one of those mountain blizzards.” He’s also fond of the opening illustration, which he thinks of as “a Snow White picture, with all the forest animals being friends,” he said. “It’s fun to paint happiness.”
Richardson, Gardner said, insisted “that the characters never look like clichés, the typical ‘hillbillies.’ She pushed for authenticity and dignity, and there was more back-and-forth than usual. In the end, it made for a much stronger book.”
Ultimately, Gardner finds a special kind of artistic satisfaction in book illustrations versus animation. “With picture books, I get to design everything,” he said. “I set the style and the pace, I’m the director, actor, costume designer, set designer, and cinematographer. I sometimes imagine a film score as I figure out the feel and flow of the illustrations. The vision is mine more completely than with animation, and that’s very rewarding.”
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