The Story of the Three Kingdoms - Hardcover

Myers, Walter Dean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060242868 ISBN 13: 9780060242862

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1995

Synopsis

Two Coretta Scott King Award recipients combine their artistry in an original fable about the People, who—through the power of their storytelling—came to live at peace with Elephant, Shark, and Hawk, rulers of the Earth, the Sea, and the Air. "Myers's fable exalts the role of storytellers, and he tells his own story in a powerful resonant style. Bryan's swirling pictures in bright colors add liveliness . . . [as] he shows the People with a variety of ethnic features and clothing."—C.

1995 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)
1996 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1995 Parent’s Choice Silver Honor Award

About this title

About the Author:

Walter Dean Myers is the New York Times bestselling author of Monster, the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award, the current National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, and inaugural NYC Literary Honoree. Myers has received every single major award in the field of children's literature. He is the author of two Newbery Honor Books and five Coretta Scott King Awardees. He is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults and is a three-time National Book Award Finalist as well as the first-ever recipient of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was the 2010 United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and is considered one of the preeminent writers for young people. Walter lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his family.

Ashley Bryan's numerous awards and honors include the Coretta Scott King Award for illustration, six Coretta Scott King Honors, the Arbuthnot Prize, and a Fulbright Scholarship. He illustrated The Story of the Three Kingdoms by Walter Dean Myers, A Nest Full of Stars by James Berry, and How God Fix Jonah by Lorenz Graham. He also wrote and illustrated Beautiful Blackbird and All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals. Mr. Bryan studied at Cooper Union in New York City and earned a degree in philosophy at Columbia University. He lives in Isleford, Maine.

From Publishers Weekly:

Myers (Brown Angels) and Bryan (Sing to the Sun) make a dynamite team. Here, the hot colors, sweeping lines and stylized figures that characterize Bryan's art form a bold backdrop for the author's equally dramatic original fable. Long ago, Myers writes, the world was divided into three kingdoms: earth, ruled by Elephant; sea, ruled by Shark; and air, ruled by Hawk. The three quarrel mightily as to who is greatest, and they laugh at the People, who, they say, exist only to do their bidding. With time, the People outwit the haughty trio by learning from the stories they tell around the fire at night. The tale of a child catching a butterfly at rest, for instance, sparks a plan to capture Hawk in the baobab tree. In the end, the People realize they have the greatest power of all: "the gift of story and the wisdom it brings." Using repetition and a stately cadence, Myers invests his prose with a timeless air; together, he and Bryan provide for a memorable read-aloud experience. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0060242868
• ISBN 13: 9780060242862
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Bryan Ashley