Ashley Bryan's Puppets: Making Something from Everything

Beloved Coretta Scott King Award-winning 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.

Author: Ashley Bryan
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 07/08/2014
Pages: 80
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.49lbs
Size: 10.19h x 10.22w x 0.54d
ISBN: 9781442487284
Audience: Ages 4-8


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 05/05/2014
Publishers Weekly 05/19/2014
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2014
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2014 pg. 111
Booklist 07/01/2014 pg. 60
Shelf Awareness 07/11/2014
School Library Journal 07/01/2014 pg. 116
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 10/01/2014
PW Best Children's Books 11/03/2014 pg. 40
Kirkus Best Picture Books 11/15/2014 pg. 56
PW Children's Starred Reviews 12/01/2014 pg. 34
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2015 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
Ashley Bryan (1923-2022) grew up to the sound of his mother singing from morning to night, and he shared the joy of song with children. A beloved illustrator, he was named a Newbery Honoree for his picture book, Freedom Over Me. He also received the Coretta Scott King--Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award; the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; was a May Hill Arbuthnot lecturer; a Coretta Scott King Award winner; and the recipient of countless other awards and recognitions. His books include Freedom Over Me; Sail Away; Beautiful Blackbird; Beat the Story-Drum, Pum Pum; Let It Shine; Ashley Bryan's Book of Puppets; and What a Wonderful World. He lived in Islesford, one of the Cranberry Isles off the coast of Maine.