It jes' happened : when Bill Traylor started to draw

Growing up as an enslaved boy on an Alabama cotton farm, Bill Traylor worked all day in the hot fields.

When slavery ended, Bill's family stayed on the farm as sharecroppers.

There Bill grew to manhood, raised by his own family and cared for the land and his animals.

By the time has was 81, Bill was alone on his farm. So he moved to the city and began drawing the people, place and creatures from his earlier life.

Today Bill Traylor is considered one of the most important self-taught American folk artists and this vivid picturebook tells his story.