Ashley Bryan’s Puppets by Ashley Bryan (review)

An introductory author’s note describes Bryan’s penchant for taking found objects and transforming them into something else, in this case, puppets made from things that wash ashore the Cranberry Isles. Photographs of more than thirty of these puppets, each of whom have an African name (translated into English in a subheading), appear within the book’s pages, most of them accompanied by Bryant’s poem about them. Unfortunately, the poems are uneven, fluctuating considerably in their effectiveness. The more concrete poems, such as “Kwesi” (“Stew bones fashioned for a trunk,/ Rib bones for a tusk;/ Shoulder bones, my perfect ears,/ Opal eyes a must,/ Old corduroys that washed ashore,/ With shells, seaweed, a plant./ I’ll journey now to Africa/ A proper elephant”) will be more successful with younger children; the more abstract concepts of poems like “Mayimuna” (“I am amazed/ That the acting art/ could change me./ Teach me how to convince you/ That I am/ Who I am not”) will require an older audience for full appreciation. Some poems, however, are pleasingly mysterious, adding to the slightly surreal air of the puppets. Entel’s crisp photographs of the puppets are strikingly lit against a dark background; close-ups or alternate perspectives give viewers a good, close look at each puppet. The puppets themselves are fairly abstract in their features, but kids will be intrigued and inspired to see what materials Bryan has used in their construction (unfortunately, no actual list of the materials is provided). Teachers and other adults might use the three poem-less puppets as springboards for some creative writing projects, and the book as a whole to inspire some puppetry construction.