Showing results by author "Ashley Bryan" in All Categories

In May of 1942, at the age of 18, Ashley Bryan was drafted to fight in World War II. For the next three years, he would face the horrors of war as a black soldier in a segregated army. For the next 40 years, Ashley would keep his time in the war a secret. But now, he tells his story. The story of the kind people who supported him. The story of the bright moments that guided him through the dark. And the story of his passion for art that would save him time and time again.

Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan adapted this charming tale from a story told by the Ilaspeaking people of Zambia. All the birds in the forest are jealous of Blackbird, whose black feathers glisten and shine colorfully in the sunbeams. The other birds are a single color from head to foot, and none of them have even a spot of black on their feathers. Blackbird tells them that true color is on the inside, but still the birds long for black feathers. So Blackbird brews a batch of blackening to decorate all his friends.

Imagine being looked up and down and being valued as less than chair. Less than an ox. Less than a dress. Maybe about the same as a lantern. You, an object. An object to sell. In his gentle yet deeply powerful way, Ashley Bryan goes to the heart of how a slave is given a monetary value by the slave owner, tempering this with the one thing that can't be bought or sold - dreams.