Ashley Bryan (born July 13, 1923) is an American writer and illustrator of children’s books, most of his subjects represent the Black experience, and in 1962, he became the first African American to publish a children’s book as both author and illustrator. He was a U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006 and he won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contribution to American children’s literature in 2009. Ashley Bryan’s Freedom Over Me was short-listed for the 2016 Kirkus Prize and received a Newbery Honor, and he has won numerous other awards over his long artistic and literary career. [Source: Wikipedia]

When our local art museum featured his work in an exhibit entitled, “PAINTER AND POET: THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF ASHLEY BRYAN” in 2017, my family spent the entire summer falling in love with Bryan and his extraordinarily creative work.

In addition to visiting the museum to see his art in person, including some of his amazing puppets, we read everything from him that we could get our hands on. Because we got to “know” him so well, his books have become a regular part of our reading life, even making an appearance on our homeschool book club list one month. We also had the opportunity to watch a live stage performance of “The Dancing Granny” based on Bryan’s book by the same title.

I can truly say that the summer we spent studying Bryan was one of the richest and most special adventures of our homeschooling journey so far. This is why I’m so excited to introduce him to you today!

“I love to celebrate the artistry of people around the world in whatever material or form they work.”

I’ve included the books from our home library and others we’ve enjoyed below, but Ashley Bryan is a prolific writer and artist (He’s produced over 50 children’s books!), so there are many more options that you may want to explore with your family or students.

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Amazon Shop: If you prefer to read descriptions and see pricing in one place, please check out the Ashley Bryan Booklist in my Heritage Mom Amazon Shop.

“You must practice daily with whatever you want to grow in or grow with.”

Biographical and nonfiction books by or about Bryan

“I make flowers of all my mistakes.”

Books written and/or illustrated by Bryan

Note: Check out my review of Christmas Gif’ here (the last book pictured above). The book features some of Bryan’s black and white block prints.

“If you put art into the world, you will get beauty in return.”

If you do decide to study Bryan with your family, please consider showing your children this Reading Rockets interview. It will give them such a good idea of his personality, childhood, and work. It’s so good!

I hope you enjoyed learning about African American artist and author Ashley Bryan (and reading his quotes)! I also have other African American artist study resources that you may find useful.

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