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Title details for Ashley Bryan's Beautiful Blackbird and Other Folktales by Ashley Bryan - Available

Ashley Bryan's Beautiful Blackbird and Other Folktales

by Ashley Bryan
Ashley Bryan
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

Ashley Bryan travels from coast to coast speaking and performing and is an award-winning author and illustrator. He turned 80 years old in 2003 and lives on an island off the coast of Maine.

Take a front row seat for Ashley Bryan’s performance of:

  • Beautiful Blackbird
  • Why Frog and Snake Never Play Together
  • Tortoise, Hare and the Sweet Potatoes
  • Hen and Frog
  • Frog and His Two Wives
  • How Animals Got Their Tales

    • Creators

    • Publisher

    • Awards

    • Release date

      February 3, 2006

    • Formats

      • OverDrive Listen audiobook

        • File size: 38350 KB
        • Duration: 01:19:53

    • Languages

      • English

    • Levels

      • Text Difficulty: 0-3

    • Reviews

      • AudioFile Magazine
        Ashley Bryan is the consummate storyteller--at one with his stories and possessing a seemingly effortless command of the storyteller's craft. Rhythm, voice, and sound effects all blend into a singular listening experience. Bryan's energy radiates from each of the tales in this Coretta Scott King Award winner. The signature story is one from the Ila-speaking people of Zambia in which the brightly colored birds urge Blackbird to share some of his fine and shiny black coloring with each of them. That folktales embrace cultures everywhere is brought to bear in tales of a lazy, yet crafty frog who tries to take advantage of a neighboring hen and of a slow tortoise and a speedy hare. Hear about times when one frog and one snake had a fabulous day of play and another frog "was pu-l-l-led to the east and pu-l-l-led to the west" in a terrible predicament and could only cro-o-o-ak! A.R. Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
      • AudioFile Magazine
        Bryan reads his poems from Sing to the Sun and tells his stories, "Ananse the Spider in Search of a Fool," "The Cat's Purr," "Turtle Knows Your Name" and "The Story of Lightning and Thunder." The stories work better than the poetry, but the program really demonstrates a storyteller who is better in person than on audio-cassette. In person, Bryan is electrifying, using his body and his face to create a visually exhilarating performance; on tape, the inflections and variations in pitch and timing seem peculiar and difficult to grasp. S.G. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
      • Publisher's Weekly

        April 12, 2004
        Bryan gives a joyous performance of his work on this recording of some of his favorite African tales. Adapted from the picture book Beautiful Blackbird
        and the collection Ashley Bryan's African Tales, Uh Huh,
        this project capitalizes on all the author's storytelling strengths. Throughout, Bryan delivers words that bounce with the music and rhythm of poetry. His enthusiasm and emphasis on certain passages will quickly captivate young listeners, and the selections here serve as a fine introduction to this genre of literature. On the title track, Blackbird appreciates inner beauty as well as pretty plumage. In "Tortoise, Hare, and the Sweet Potatoes," Tortoise tricks Hare out of some good food. Simple humor, sound effects, rhyming and wordplay give the proceedings a consistent air of fun. Bryan clearly delights in taking on several animal voices, giving his snakes hissing "s's" and a slow-speaking, deep-voiced Tortoise, two examples of the reading's highlights. Ages 4-9.

    Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

    subjects

    Languages

    • English

    Levels

    • Text Difficulty:0-3

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