Author Information
Ashley Bryan's Latest Book

Newest Release

  • Bibliography:
    25 Books
  • First Book:
    July 1976
  • Latest Book:
    September 2016
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Book List in Order: 25 titles



  • When sent to retrieve their master’s magic ring from Spider Ananse, Okra the cat and Okraman the dog prove their true worth in this beautifully illustrated tale from acclaimed illustrator Ashley Bryan.In this story within a story, when the jeal...



  • Spider Ananse gets Granny started dancing so he can raid her garden--but his own trick "does him in."Spider Ananse takes advantage of Granny Anika's love of dancing and sets her to dancing again and again while he steals food from her luxuriant garde...






  • The Cat's Purr is Ashely Bryan's story of an unlikely friendship and the fun that ensues.Cat and Rat are friends, but when Rat tricks Cat and plays the cat drum, which only cats may play, Cat ends up swallowing the drum, and that is how he got his pu...




  • From Coretta Scott King Award–winning creator Ashley Bryan comes a rhythmic picture book of five Nigerian folktales.From the silly tale of a monkey’s speech being sprinkled with shoo bee do’s and hay baa ba ree bop’s to the mo...



  • Celebrate black identity and heritage in this funny, rhyming picture book from Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan.A young village boy living in the Caribbean has one problem—his name is so long that not one person can remember it. But...



  • Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan presents five African folktales in this delightful, boldly illustrated picture book.A trickster spider has his careful plan backfire, a frog and elephant team up to woo pretty girls, a calm tortoise outwit...






  • From Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan comes a vibrant picture book retelling of a West African myth.A long time ago—a very long time ago—Thunder and Lightning didn’t live in the sky. Uh-uh! They lived right in a village ...




  • "Sing to the sunIt will listenAnd warm your words

    In this beautiful collection of art and poetry, Ashley bryan celebrates all aspects of life--from a rainshower at the seashore to a beloved grandmother gathering fruit.

    Perfect for reading alou...



  • Come gather round, young and old, and hear these stories from Africa, retold and illustrated by the incomparable Ashley Bryan. The fourteen stories in this collection are some of his favorites, previously published in The Ox of the Wonderful Horns; B...



  • Ashley Bryan says, "My mother had a proverb for any situation, attitude, or event." Many of us have had the same experience. But have you ever heard, "As a crab walks, so walk its children" or "A log may lie in the water for ten years, but it will ne...




  • Coretta Scott King Awardâ€"winning creator Ashley Bryan’s adaptation of a tale from the Ila-speaking people of Zambia is now available in board book format, featuring Bryan’s cut-paper artwork.We’ll see the difference a touch of black can make....



  • Award-winning author and illustrator Ashley Bryan has selected twenty best-known and best-loved African-American spirituals, including the title song, "All Night, All Day," and such others as "This Little Light of Mine," "O When the Saints Go Marchin...



  • Includes a variety of folktales along with "Beautiful Blackbird," a story of the Ila people, in which the colorful birds of Africa ask Blackbird, whom they think is the most beautiful of birds, to decorate them with some of his "blackening brew."...



  • All things bright and beautiful; all creatures great and small; all things wise and wonderful, the incredible Ashley Bryan illustrates them all!...






  • Who built the stable where Jesus lay? Multiple Coretta Scott King Awardâ€"winner Ashley Bryan has a very good idea in this beautiful and moving new layer to the nativity story. Riding in an open Jeep across the plains of Africa, beloved and nation...



  • From celebrated legend Ashley Bryan, a lavishly depicted cautionary tale of fearlessness and many-headed monsters. There was a little boy who knew no fear... Nope, no fear at all. Not even when his grandma warns him of the giants -- the two-hea...



  • Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan celebrates three favorite spirituals in this colorful and joyous picture book.This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.Come, sing, and celebrate the pow...



  • Winner of:
    2015 Parents' Choice Award, Picture Book

    This picture book takes children of all ages on a trolley-ride dream adventure

    Featuring the extraordinary illustrations of Caldecott Honoree, Marvin Bileck, t...



  • Beloved 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...



  • Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts the monetary value of a slave with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never t...


Award-Winning Books by Ashley Bryan

Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum
1981 Coretta Scott King Award -- Illustrator
Beautiful Blackbird
2004 Coretta Scott King Award -- Illustrator
Freedom Over Me
2017 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award -- Picture Book


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Ashley Bryan has published 25 books.

Ashley Bryan does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Freedom Over Me, was published in September 2016.

The first book by Ashley Bryan, Adventures of Aku, was published in July 1976.

No. Ashley Bryan does not write books in series.