Beautiful Blackbird

With over thirty children's books to his name, many of them award-winning explorations of the African-American experience, Ashley Bryan is an author whose work I have long wanted to read. His many folktale adaptations, in particular, have been tempting me of late, so I am especially disappointed that Beautiful Blackbird - supposedly a retelling of a traditional tale from the Ila-speaking people of Zambia - didn't impress me more.

First though, the good news: this is a beautiful book, visually speaking. The artwork is just gorgeous, and fully deserved the Coretta Scott King Illustrator's Award that it received. Created using a cut-paper collage technique, it is colorful and immediate, with a sense of motion that suits the rhythmic show more narrative. The inclusion of images of the artist's scissors - which once belonged to his mother - on the decorated endpapers, is a particularly nice touch.

Unfortunately, the narrative of Beautiful Blackbird wasn't as appealing as the illustrations. I understand that Bryan took some liberties with the original tale, which was more of a condemnation of vanity - the other birds being more concerned with how they look, than how they behave - than an affirmation of self esteem. It's easy to see why he would be tempted to do so: for many years, black was rarely depicted as a "good" color, rarely described as beautiful, or associated with the positive, making a story with a different viewpoint very appealing. But the end result, in which the other birds only consider themselves beautiful after Blackbird shares some of his blackness with them, is hardly the universal story of "appreciating one's heritage and discovering the beauty within," as claimed by the dust-jacket blurb.

Black Is Beautiful! But I don't think I'd be comfortable handing a child a book whose implicit message is that it is the only kind of beautiful. Not recommended. show less

In my opinion this was a great and powerful book. The illustration was very vibrant, appropriate to the mood of the story and fit well with the written text. Blackbird was the only black bird in the area and was surrounded by birds of all colors. The other birds envied Blackbird because of his unique color, so Blackbird began painting black designs on the other birds. The beautiful designs illustrated throughout the text on each colored bird and their happiness afterwards is captured through the illustration as the birds dance around full of happiness. The use of language Ashley Bryan uses throughout her story is descriptive and patterned. Through song and rhyme, "Color on the outside is not what's on the inside. You don't act like me. show more You don't eat like me. You don't get down in the groove and move your feet like me" not only does the use of rhyme keep the reader interested, but also the meaning behind the words. Bryan is sending a message that everyone is unique in their own way regardless of their outside appearance. This gives the child reader a sense of comfort and acceptance of self about something that may be different about them. show less

Ashley Bryan's story tells about a group of birds that desire to share and have the black color of the beautiful Blackbird. In the book, the Blackbird is a very considerate and compassionate bird who sees its color as a gift to be shared with the rest of the birds. Since it is indeed the only black bird of the flock, it is not seen as being an undesirable "other" that must be ostracized and pushed off to the side. If anything, its color is a great attribute that adds to its uniqueness and loveliness.
I liked the lyrical quality to Bryan's writing in the bird. At many times, particularly when the birds were engaged in dialogue with one another, their words/ statements were songlike. This I feel not only was a creative, artistic show more expression for the author, but also was a way to mimic how birds communicate through song. What I also enjoyed about the book was how difference and individuality was seen as a benefit, positive attribute rather than burden. I think that the blackness of the bird, which I feel also reflects something about race, was a great thing to convey to children as being a form of celebration of diversity. This book reminded me a lot of the Rainbow Fish, except the main difference is the willingness of the creature to be open and gracious with its specific characteristic and the unselfishness to spread this love with others. show less

Ashley Bryan creates a captivating adaptation of the folktale, "The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesta" in his Coretta Scott King-winning Beautiful Blackbird. Blackbird, the only bird who is black, is exhalted by the other birds for his beauty: "Blackbird stands out best of all. Blackbird is the most beautiful. His feathers gleam all colors in the sun. Blackbird is the most beautiful one." When the other birds ask Blackbird to paint them with his blackening brew, he agrees, but paints them sparingly and reminds the birds that they are all special in their own way. Ashley Bryan's sing song text is fun to read and his cut paper collages are music to the eyes. Families will appreciate the message of Black is Beautiful and the idea show more that, inside, we are all unique. show less

This beautiful book uses cut-paper collages to tell an adaptation of a Zambian folktale in which a blackbird decorates the other birds of the forest with black markings. The text has a rhythmic poetry to it, although it isn't formatted as verse, which could throw you off when reading it--with a little practice, this could be very effective as a storytime book, though. I like the nuanced message; there's the standard "be yourself, it's the inside that's important" part, but the birds also find value in altering their outsides, not out of a sense of obligation, but because they enjoy it aesthetically and it's fun.

Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Byran was a Coretta Scott King award winner, and rightfully so. Blackbird is surrounded by all colorful birds and finds himself the only one to be all black. The other colorful birds admire him that he can reflect all colors. Other birds wish to be like him, but he reminds them it isn’t what matters, what matters is what’s happening on the inside. He encourages them to be themselves, but creates a black brew to paint on his colorful friends. They’ve each a piece of him but they are still their own. This book has a deep diversity and individuality theme that young children wouldn’t initially grasp. I believe this story would increase an understanding for individuality and accepting diversity.

Beautiful Blackbird is a story about all of the monotone birds of Africa getting together to decide who is the most beautiful and they all sing out Blackbird because his feathers gleam all colors under the sun. So graciously blackbird adds color to each of the monotone birds to give them accent colors and to make them happy. All the birds want to be like blackbird but he replies that, "color on the outside is not whats on the inside..." so even though the other birds may look more like blackbird they are still as they were before he added some black to them.