Author and illustrator Ashley Bryan is a Maine treasure. He has lived on Cranberry Island in Maine since the 1980's. He is an accomplished visual artist, a story-teller, a poet, performer and humanitarian. His work has been awarded the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, Laura Ingals Wilder Medal, and the New York Public Library’s Literary Lions award. Throughout the United States and Africa, libraries, children’s rooms, and literary festivals are named for him.
Ashley Bryan by 
Ashley Bryan's Puppets by
Beloved storyteller and creator Ashley Bryan reveals the vibrant spirit of found objects in this magnificent treasury of poetry and puppets. Little Cranberry Island. It's a small island, with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, but it's got more than its share of treasures--including the magnificent Ashley Bryan himself, a world-renowned storyteller and author of such classics as All Night, All Day and Beautiful Blackbird. Daily, for decades, Ashley has walked up and down the beach, stopping to pick up sea glass, weathered bones, a tangle of fishing net, an empty bottle, a doorknob. Treasure. And then, with glue and thread and paint and a sprinkling of African folklore, Ashley breathes new life into these materials. Others might consider it beach junk, but Ashley sees worlds of possibilities. Ashley Bryan's two-foot-tall hand puppets swell with personality and beauty, and in this majestic collection they make their literary debut, each with a poem that tells of their creation and further enlivens their spirit.
Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum by 
Beautiful Blackbird by
Black is beautiful, uh-huh! Long ago, Blackbird was voted the most beautiful bird in the forest. The other birds, who were colored red, yellow, blue, and green, were so envious that they begged Blackbird to paint their feathers with a touch of black so they could be beautiful too. Although Black-bird warns them that true beauty comes from within, the other birds persist and soon each is given a ring of black around their neck or a dot of black on their wings -- markings that detail birds to this very day. Coretta Scott King Award-winner Ashley Bryan's adaptation of a tale from the Ila-speaking people of Zambia reso-nates both with rhythm and the tale's universal meanings -- appreciating one's heritage and discovering the beauty within. His cut-paper artwork is a joy.
Can't Scare Me! by 
Freedom over Me by 
I Am Loved by 
Let It Shine by 
My People by 
The Night Has Ears by 
Sing to the Sun by 
The Sun Is So Quiet by 
What a Wonderful World by 