Dark Was the Night is a lyrical picture book biography that publishes this week. Its spare, evocative language tells the story of bluesman Willie Johnson. Readers learn about Johnson’s early life, including the tragic loss of his mother and later the loss of his eyesight. We see Johnson using music to make sense of those losses.

The book looks at Johnson’s musical innovations like using his pocketknife on his guitar strings for the sound it produced. Years after his death, Johnson’s haunting song, “Dark Was the Night” was included in a disk sent out into space, as representative of the human experience.

In the back matter, Golio talks about how continuing research has been changing our understanding of Johnson and his life’s experience. I love that acknowledgment and the context it provides to young readers. Published books rely on the scholarship of their time, and this essay makes that relationship explicit. The back matter also talks more about the disk that went into space–what was on it and why it was sent out.

E.B. Lewis’ art is luminous, exploring light and dark on different pages.

It’s well worth listening to “Dark Was the Night” before reading the book. You can hear Johnson’s own rendition here.

Dark Was the Night by Gary Golio, illustrated by E.B. Lewis (Nancy Paulsen Books: 2020). Free electronic review copy was provided me in return for honest review.