Beautiful Blackbird – Ashley Bryan

 

 

The birds of Africa were once solid colors, bright and bold, pale and delicate. The only bird that was a rainbow of colors was Blackbird, a black so deep light scintillated off his feathers in a dazzling array. At a gathering of birds, a dance where they greet the sun and the night, Ringdove, a lovely white bird, begs Blackbird to share his black coloring with him. Though he agrees, Blackbird tells him, “Color on the outside is not what’s on the inside. You don’t act like me. You don’t eat like me.  You don’t get down in the groove like me” (Bryan, 2003). Blackbird brews black in a gourd and then paints it on Ringdove’s neck with a single feather. The other birds beg to be painted as well.

Though the story is presented to describe how all the birds became patterned with a variety of colors, the true heart of the tale is accepting who you are. Just as Blackbird says, only Blackbird is Blackbird no matter what markings he gives the others birds. This message is one that resonates with everyone, not just children.

The prose style is simple, and yet has a complex layering of textures with the birds that make this book a wonderful repeat-after-me as Ashley Bryan show in this video of him performing his book with an audience.

 

 

Not only does this telling reveal the nuances of language, it helps reveal the groove and sway of the birds in their speech and dance patterns. Kirkus reviews says, “This telling, by the master storyteller, just aches to be read aloud; the lively rhythms keep the simple folktale rollicking along” (Kirkus).

The bright, bold colors and the simple lines of the illustrations awaken a tribal feel. It is not hard to picture the birds of Africa gathering to share dances and songs with one another. They strut across the page in their dances with their bright colors flashing like the plumage of a peacock. The black lines Blackbird paints on the other birds are simple, yet bold patterns that become very eye-catching against the bright backdrops.

This book won a Coretta Scott King Award in 2004 for the illustrations.

Bryan, Ashley. Beautiful Blackbird. New York: Atheneum Book, 2003.

Kane, Richard. “Ashley Bryan’s ‘Beautiful Blackbird'”. https://vimeo.com/199083563. Accessed 23 September 2017.

Bryan, Ashley. “BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD by Ashley Bryan , Ashley Bryan.” Kirkus Reviews, http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ashley-bryan/beautiful-blackbird/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

 

 

 

Three Little Pigs – Barry Moser

Barry Moser’s version of the Three Little Pigs is much like the traditional tale. Three pigs build their homes – straw, wood, and brick. The big, bad wolf wants each pig to let him in, but they refuse so he blows their house down. Or at least he tries. Some of the big differences include the kindness of strangers giving them the needed materials to build their homes and instead of fleeing to the home of the nearest brother, the wolf eats the defeated pigs. At least until he meets up with the pig in the brick house.

Is this too gruesome, too violent for today‘s children? Perhaps, but it clings to the dark roots of its fairy tale beginnings, cementing its place among the traditional tales. I wouldn’t use this book for a public story time, but parents can choose to read this version to their kids at bedtime or allow them to check it out. According to Kirkus, they feel Moser “relates it in formal language, toning down the traditional story line’s violence but adding plenty of biting (so to speak) humor” (Kirkus).

 

The illustrations in the book are eye-catching and somewhat humorous. The wolf is long and lean with ribs showing through his matte gray pelt. The pigs are fat and pink and what starving wolf wouldn’t want to take a bite out of their hides? The best illustrations come later in the book when the last pig is squaring off in a battle of wits against the wolf, very Coyote and the Road Runner style without ACME’s interference. These and the story they illustrate are part of what makes this book stand out among so many retellings of the same old story.  The images chosen help downplay the violence as the first two pigs are killed off stage and all the readers gets is a glimpse of a swollen belly and the wolf lounging among clean bones with a jar of barbeque sauce. The last image of the final pig is just as humorous and leaves no question as to the wolf’s fate – wolf slippers, a recipe book, a paper that says “My Mama’s Wolf Stew with Garlic.”

This version didn’t win any awards that I could track down, but maybe it should have. Those illustrations and the simple, straightforward language help paint a vivid, entertaining, and memorable retelling,

 

Moser, Barry. The Three Little Pigs. Scholastic, 2001.

Moser, Barry. “THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by Barry Moser , Barry Moser.” Kirkus Reviews, http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/barry-moser/the-three-little-pigs-4/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

Dust Devil by Anne Isaccs and Paul O. Zelinsky

Tall tales are a distinctly American traditional tale. These stories include Pecos Bill and his lassoing a tornado. Paul Bunyun and his blue ox, Babe. Dust Devil by Anne Issacs fits this genre with a series of very tall tales from Swamp Angel’s giant size to her taming the giant horse, Dust Devil, to her besting Backward Bart and his band of bank robbers in a big way.

Swamp Angel (Caldecott Honor Book) is actually introduced in a book bearing her name. Dust Devil is her second outing and her tale only got bigger. Moving from Montana to Tennessee, Swamp Angel uplifts mountains and uses them as her shade, forming the famous buttes.  The plants on her farm grew just as big and fast as she did. “Some seedlings shot up and rocketed to the sky, taking the cows along for the ride. They weren’t seen again until fall.  When the stalks withered and lowered the cows back to the earth.” A giant dust storm hit Montana, coating everything in dirt, and Swamp Angel decided to tame the storm. Inside she found a giant horse – just what she was looking for – and her attempts to break him made the Grand Canyon. They settle in to a life together with Swamp Angel handling Dust Devil’s wildness until Backward Bart, a man so ugly his mom made him walk backwards his entire life, and his band of thieves riding giant mosquitos terrorize Montana. Kirkus notes about Bart “He walked, spoke and robbed backward ever since. Bart’s garbled threats remain funny even after several readings. “Cash your gimme!” just doesn’t get old” (Kirkus). Swamp Angel knew she needed to take care of them and after a wild horse chase and battle, Angel gets them into the jail.

When one reads this book aloud, it isn’t hard to fall into a slow drawl speech pattern. The tale rolls slowly off the tongue, taking its time getting where it wants to go. This natural cadence adds a rich texture to the narrative, making it a wonderful story to share for a story or bed time.  The illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky adds to the rich narrative with illustrations designed to make the “tall tale” seem even bigger. Swamp Angel, Dust Devil, and the plants on her farm tower over everyone. Backward Bart and his cronies are just as silly as they sound, going everywhere backward on flying giant mosquitos. The color pallet is a rich sepia with red highlights, pulling in the colors of the plains and the mountains but paints the sky a brilliant palette of blue, gray, and gold.

 

Issacs, Anne and Zelinsky, Paul O. Dust Devil. New York: Random House Children’s Books, 2010.

Isaacs, Anne, and Paul O. Zelinsky. “DUST DEVIL by Anne Isaacs , Paul O. Zelinsky.” Kirkus Reviews, http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/anne-isaacs/dust-devil-isaacs/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.