Bryan, Ashley 1923-

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Bryan, Ashley 1923-
(Ashley F. Bryan)

PERSONAL:

Born July 13, 1923, in New York, NY. Ethnicity: Black. Education: Attended Cooper Union and Columbia University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Islesford, ME. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

CAREER:

Author and illustrator of books for children; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, professor of art and visual studies, then professor emeritus.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Coretta Scott King Award, American Library Association, Social Responsibilities Round Table, 1980, and Parents Choice Award, for illustrating Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum; Coretta Scott King Award, 1983, for illustrating I'm Going to Sing: Black American Spirituals; Coretta Scott King Award, 1986, for writing Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales; Coretta Scott King Honor Award, 1988, for illustrating What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals; Coretta Scott King award, 1992, for illustrating All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals; Coretta Scott King Award, 2004, for Beautiful Blackbird; recipient of fifth annual Virginia Hamilton Literary Award.

WRITINGS:

JUVENILES; SELF-ILLUSTRATED, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED

The Ox of the Wonderful Horns and Other African Folktales, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1971.

The Adventures of Aku; or, How It Came about That We Shall Always See Okra the Cat Lying on a Velvet Cushion While Okraman the Dog Sleeps among the Ashes, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1976.

The Dancing Granny, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1977.

Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum (Nigerian folk tales), Atheneum (New York, NY), 1980.

The Cat's Drum, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1985.

Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1986.

Sh-ko and His Eight Wicked Brothers, illustrated by Fumio Yoshimura, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1988.

All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1988.

(And reteller) Turtle Knows Your Name, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1989, Aladdin Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Sing to the Sun: Poems and Pictures, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1992.

Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1997.

Beautiful Blackbird, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2003.

ILLUSTRATOR:

Rabindranath Tagore, Moon, for What Do You Wait? (poems), edited by Richard Lewis, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1967.

Mari Evans, Jim Flying High (juvenile), Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1979.

Susan Cooper, Jethro and the Jumbie (juvenile), Atheneum (New York, NY), 1979.

John Langstaff, editor, What a Morning!: The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1987.

The Story of Lightning and Thunder, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1993.

Christmas Gif': An Anthology of Christmas Poems, Songs, and Stories, Written by and about African-Americans, Morrow Junior Books (New York, NY), 1993.

George David Weiss and Bob Thiele, What a Wonderful World, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1995.

Walter Dean Myers, The Story of the Three Kingdoms, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1995.

Linda and Clay Goss, It's Kwanzaa Time!, G.P. Putnam's (New York, NY), 1995.

Nikki Giovanni, The Sun Is So Quiet, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1996.

Langston Hughes, Carol of the Brown King: Nativity Poems, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1998.

Ashley Bryan's African Tales, Uh-Huh, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1998.

Brian Swann, The House with No Door: African Riddle-Poems, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1998.

Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret H. Lippert, Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia, Fulcrum Kids (Golden, CO), 1998.

The Night Has Ears: African Proverbs, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1999.

Nikki Grimes, Aneesa Lee and the Weaver's Gift, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (New York, NY), 1999.

Naomi Shihab Ney, editor, Salting the Ocean: One Hundred Poems by Young Poets, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 2000.

James Berry, A Nest Full of Stars: Poems, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Spirituals, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2005.

OTHER

(Compiler) Black American Spirituals, Volume I: Walk Together Children (self-illustrated), Atheneum (New York, NY), 1974, Volume II: I'm Going to Sing (self-illustrated), Macmillan (New York, NY), 1982.

(Compiler and author of introduction) Paul Laurence Dunbar, I Greet the Dawn: Poems, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1978.

(Author of introduction with Andrea Davis Pinkney) Jump Back, Honey: The Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 1999.

ADAPTATIONS:

Bryan recorded The Dancing Granny and Other African Tales for the Caedmon record label; Beautiful Blackbird was adapted for audio by the author, titled Beautiful Blackbird and Other Folktales, Audio Bookshelf, 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

As a folklorist, Ashley Bryan focuses on the traditions of black culture. For example, his collection of the spirituals of American slaves, Walk Together Children, records "the brave and lonely cries of men and women forced to trust in heaven because they had no hope on earth," remarked Neil Millar in the Christian Science Monitor. The subject of bondage set to native African rhythms produced songs such as "Go Down Moses," "Deep River," "Mary Had a Baby," "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Nobody Knows the Trouble I Seen," "Walk Together Children," "O Freedom," "Little David," and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." "With Ashley Bryan's collection," wrote Virginia Hamilton in the New York Times Book Review, "the tradition of preserving the spiritual through teaching the young is surely enriched."

In addition to historical spirituals, several of Bryan's collections contain stories that explain why certain animals became natural enemies. In The Adventures of Aku; or, How It Came about That We Shall Always See Okra the Cat Lying on a Velvet Cushion While Okraman the Dog Sleeps among the Ashes, Bryan recounts the day that the enmity between dogs and cats began. This "is a long involved magic tale that has echoes of Aladdin's lamp and Jack and the Beanstalk to mention just two familiar stories with similar motifs," wrote the New York Times Book Review's Jane Yolen. It utilizes a magic ring, a stupid son, a heroic quest, and Ananse, the standard trickster figure in African folklore, to capsulize the Ashanti proverb stating: "No one knows the story of tomorrow's dawn."

The Nigerian folktales in Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum also reveal the origins of hostilities between animals, such as that between the snake and the frog or the bush cow and the elephant. These "retellings make the stories unique, offering insight into the heart of a culture," noted M.M. Burns in Horn Book. Each story, the reviewer added, "has a style and beat appropriate to the subject, the overall effect being one of musical composition with dexterously designed variations and movements."

The Dancing Granny continues the saga of the trickster Ananse. Originally titled "He Sings to Make the Old Woman Dance," this folktale recounts the day when a little old lady, who danced continually, foiled the Spider Ananse's plan to eat all of her food. While Granny worked, Ananse sang so that she might dance. Then, when she danced away, the spider would eat up her corn. This went on four times until Granny took Ananse to be her partner and danced him away, too.

In a departure from his usual cultural interests, Bryan ventures briefly into traditional folktales from Japan with his retelling of Sh-Ko and His Eight Wicked Brothers. It is a story about sibling rivalry, the nature of true beauty, and the rewards of kindness. Sh-ko, the youngest of nine brothers, is truly ugly. He accompanies his brothers on a quest to win the hand of Princess Yakami. During the journey, he helps a rabbit in distress. In return, the grateful rabbit gives Sh-ko a magic gift and, to the dismay of his brothers, Sh-ko wins princess' hand. "The tale," according to School Library Journal reviewer John Philbrook, "is told in a straightforward manner."

Bryan's collection, All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals, with his bright, abstract illustrations is generally considered more appealing to young readers. According to a Horn Book reviewer, this volume offers "extraordinary gifts for all America's children." A Booklist contributor praised this collection in a special feature: "The African American Experience in Picture Books."

Bryan's next book, 1989's Turtle Knows Your Name, is a retelling of a folktale from the West Indies. An earlier version appeared in Elsie Clews Parson's Folklore of the Antilles, French and English, Part II. Word choice, language rhythm, and animal sounds contribute to the tale's festive mood. One Horn Book reviewer called the work "a celebration of family love, traditional song and dance, and the ancient power of names." Inspired by the importance that black cultures attach to names, Bryan tells what happens when a young boy named UPSILI-MANA TUM-PALERADO goes to the beach to sing and dance his name, in a time-honored tradition. A trickster turtle listens in on the ceremony, and records the name in shells on the sea floor. Because the boy's name is long, his peers tease him, so he befriends a group of animals. Later in the tale, his grandmother challenges him to find out her name, and, knowing how Turtle cataloged his own name, he asks the creature. "It's MAPASEEDO JACKALINDY EYE PIE TACKARINDY," Turtle announces. For convenience, the boy and his grandmother settle on the shorter names of Granny and Son. Contributor Marilyn Iarusso noted in School Library Journal that Bryan has created "a rhythmic text which celebrates the pride of two people who learn to honor their names and their identities, and expect others to do the same."

Bryan's following work is a collection of poems written in rhythmic verse. Titled Sing to the Sun: Poems and Pictures, the book celebrates nature, humanity, and life itself. All twenty-three poems are original and are considered appealing not only to children but to adults as well. A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that Bryan "artfully blends the traditions of African American culture with those of Western art. … He interweaves voices that are sophisticated … with those that are tied to folk storytelling traditions."

Bryan's The Story of Lightning and Thunder retells an African story about why lightning and thunder now live in the sky instead of the earth as they once did. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly found this work "joyful in both word and palette." In What a Wonderful World, Bryan adds illustrations to the song of the same title popularized by Louis Armstrong. For a Publishers Weekly reviewer, this was "a utopian confection of racial harmony and collaboration," while for Booklist contributor Janice Del Negro, it was "a song of joy." In The Story of the Three Kingdoms, Bryan collaborates with writer Walter Dean Myers to form a "dynamite team" according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. The book is an original fable about the beginnings of the world. The critic for Publishers Weekly praised Bryan's "sweeping lines and stylized figures," while Carolyn Phelan, writing in Booklist, commended the "dynamic movement" of the illustrations.

Bryan illustrated the poems in The Sun Is So Quiet. A Publishers Weekly contributor found them to be "particularly eye-catching." Bryan also illustrated The House with No Doors: African Riddle-Poems. A contributor for Publishers Weekly termed his work for this volume to be "brilliantly evocative watercolors." Working with other illustrators, Bryan contributed to Jump Back, Honey: The Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, honoring the work of that nineteenth-century poet. A Horn Book reviewer called this a "handsome piece of bookmaking," and a Publishers Weekly critic similarly found it an "affectionate celebration." The same reviewer also went on to praise "Bryan's dazzling tempera and gouache painting."

African proverbs form the text of The Night Has Ears, for which Bryan supplied artwork that "balances seriousness and humor," according to a Publishers Weekly critic, who further felt it was a "book with words and art to ponder." Bryan provides more artwork for Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets, selected by poet and teacher Naomi Shihab Nye. A Publishers Weekly contributor commended his "vibrant, imaginative cover art and section openers."

Bryan won one of several Coretta Scott King Awards for his 2003 title, Beautiful Blackbird, a "musical adaptation of a Zambian tale," as a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted. The same critic went on to praise the "colorful splendor and composition" of Bryan's artwork, and to conclude: "Bryan's lilting and magical language is infectious." Julie Cummins, writing in Booklist, found this tale "ready-made for participative storytelling." The tale, with its message of not trying to be something that you are not, found an admirer in Black Issues Book Review contributor Lynda Jones, who noted: "Bryan's simple message is complemented by the book's spare but vivid illustrations" in cutout collages. Jones also commended the "energetic prose" of the text. Barbara Bader, writing in Horn Book, also had praise for the work, noting that Bryan, working in collage for the first time, had created "more fully a picture book than anything he's done before in a medium he's hardly used before."

Bryan adapted Beautiful Blackbird and several other tales for a 2004 audiobook performed by the author/ illustrator. Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, reviewing Beautiful Blackbird and Other Folktales in School Library Journal, called it a "rousing collection," as well as an "irresistible folktale experience." A Publishers Weekly contributor called the same audiobook a "joyous performance."

Through his illustrated books of folktales, poetry, spirituals, and his performances at schools, Bryan has sought to bring the African and African-American experience to a wide audience. Writing in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Janice Del Negro summed up Bryan's career as both author and illustrator: "Looking back on Ashley Bryan's body of work is an eye-opening experience; his words paint pictures almost as glowing as his rainbow-palette paintings. His books are a tribute to what is best about children's literature."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bryan, Ashley, Turtle Knows Your Name, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1989.

PERIODICALS

American Visions, December-January, 1997, Donna Gold, "Ashley Bryan's World," p. 31.

Black Issues Book Review, January-February, 2003, Lynda Jones, review of Beautiful Blackbird, p. 64; March-April, 2004, Suzanne Rust, review of All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals, p. 68.

Booklist, September 1, 1988, review of All Night, All Day; October 1, 1989; February 1, 1992, Denia Hester, review of Sing to the Sun: Poems and Pictures, p. 433; May 15, 1995, Janice Del Negro, review of What a Wonderful World, p. 1650; June 1, 1995, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Story of the Three Kingdoms, p. 1788; October 15, 1996, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Sun Is So Quiet, p. 426; September 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry, p. 128; September 1, 1998, Denia Hester, review of Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia, p. 117; November 15, 1998, Karen Morgan, review of The House with No Doors: African Riddle-Poems, p. 584; September 15, 1999, Linda Perkins, review of The Night Has Ears: African Proverbs, p. 262; January 1, 2003, Julie Cummins, review of Beautiful Blackbird, p. 894.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February, 1990. review of Turtle Knows Your Name, p. 131; February, 1999, Janice Del Negro, "Ashley Bryan."

Christian Science Monitor, November 6, 1974, Neil Millar, review of Volume I: Walk Together Children.

Horn Book, February, 1977; April, 1981, M.M. Burns, review of Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum; February, 1983; May, 1985; November, 1988, review of All Night, All Day; January, 1990, review of Turtle Knows Your Name; May, 1992, review of All Night, All Day, p. 321; March-April, 1993, Lois F. Anderson, review of Sing to the Sun, p. 213; September, 1999, review of Jump Back, Honey: The Poems of Pail Laurence Dunbar, p. 619; March-April 2003, Barbara Bader, review of Beautiful Blackbird, p. 220.

Language Arts, December, 1992, review of Sing to the Sun, p. 630.

New York Times Book Review, November 3, 1974, Virginia Hamilton, review of Walk Together Children; October 10, 1976, Jane Yolen, review of The Adventures of Aku; or, How It Came about That We Shall Always See Okra the Cat Lying on a Velvet Cushion While Okraman the Dog Sleeps among the Ashes.

Publishers Weekly, July 6, 1992, review of Sing to the Sun, p. 53; October 18, 1993, review of The Story of Lightning and Thunder, p. 72; March 27, 1995, review of What a Wonderful World, p. 85; May 8, 1995, review of The Story of Three Kingdoms, p. 296; October 21, 1996, review of The Sun Is So Quiet, p. 83; November 9, 1998, review of The House with No Doors, p. 75; September 6, 1999, review of Jump Back, Honey, p. 103; November 8, 1999, review of The Night Has Ears, p. 66; March 13, 2000, review of Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets, p. 86; November 18, 2002, review of Beautiful Blackbird, p. 59; April 12, 2004, review of Beautiful Blackbird and Other Folktales, p. 25.

School Library Journal, April, 1989, John Philbrook, review of Sh-ko and His Eight Wicked Brothers. p. 94; October, 1989, Marilyn Iarusso, review of Turtle Knows Your Name, p. 101; August, 1992, Jane Ann Hannigan, "Meet Ashley Bryan," p. 117; July, 2000, review of Salting the Ocean, p. 129; January, 2003, Carol Ann Wilson, review of Beautiful Blackbird, p. 118; December, 2004, Ginny Gustin, review of All Night, All Day, p. 59; April, 2004, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of Beautiful Blackbird and Other Folktales (audiobook), p. 79.

Washington Post, April 21, 1998, Lonnae O'Neal Parker, "Wagging the Tale Right Off the Page."