Nova Scotian folk artist Maud Lewis loved playing piano as a child. When her hands started growing twisted and stiff from a mysterious condition (since identified as rheumatoid arthritis), she could no longer play but she could hold the paintbrush her mother gave her. “Maud jabbed the brush into red and dragged it across the paper. … Red on white made its own kind of music.” She loved painting, excited by shape and color and line. In adulthood, Maud couldn’t find a job to support herself. Then a gruff fishmonger named Everett Lewis hired her as his live-in housekeeper once she assured him that her condition was not contagious. “Everett was strong in body. Maud was strong in spirit.” They married, and although money remained tight, Maud painted wherever and whenever she could. “She painted on walls, windows, doors, shelves, trays, breadboxes, the canisters, the dustpan … Even the woodstove!” The once dreary house became a work of art. The joyful, vibrant spirit of this singular artist’s work shines from both words and images in this appreciative account, while a welcome note provides more about Maud’s work and legacy as an artist as well as perspectives on her marriage to Everett. (Ages 7-10)