Coretta Scott King Award

Beautiful Blackbird

Author: 

Ashley Bryan

Grade Level:

K-1st

Summary:

Beautiful Blackbird is a picture book that tells a African folktale in a sing song way. The protagonist in the story, Blackbird, is most loved by all the other birds. In the beginning of the story, the birds of all colors sing his praises. The climax of the story occurs when the birds beg Blackbird to paint black on them too. In the end, all the birds are painted with black markings.

Beautiful Blackbird in the classroom:

I would use this book to teach about different folktales handed down from all over the world. I would read a different folktale each day and we would discuss, as a class, the differences and similarities.

                       ESOL strategies and Beautiful Blackbird:

Because a lot of the parts of the story repeat in a sing song manner, I would choral read certain parts with the students. For example, “coo-coo-roo. Coo-ca-roo, I’ve got a question for you” is a repeated line that the students would read in unison.

Read Aloud:

Because this is a short picture book, I would read the entire thing aloud, allowing for interactive parts where the class can read things in unison, or have them repeat back certain lines.

Personal Opinion:

I did not love this book. In my opinion the illustration was the best part of the book. The illustrations were colorful and reminded me of African art I have seen. I thought the story was a little confusing because it promotes changing who you really are to be like someone else. I would have to be very careful when reading this to students to ensure that they don’t get the wrong message. I think as an adult I can look and see that it’s an appreciation of being African, but for students, this may be confusing.