Ashley Bryan's Puppets

Ashley Bryan's Puppets

Juvenile and family poetry
"These treasures,
Washed in from the sea
Are cast off challenged to me.
I cannot rest til I create
A life that we may celebrate."
Ashley Bryan made his first puppet when he was eleven. He still
loves making puppets. These days, living on an island, he has daily
access to the ocean and the treasures that wash up on the beach. He
uses them to create elaborate puppets with personalities and back
stories. In Ashley Bryan's Puppets he pairs dozens with their own
personal poems.
Study the pictures. See what Ashley has done with objects as
ordinary as bones, buttons, peach pits, crab claws, and fabric
scraps. You may not live anywhere near a beach. Puppets may not be
your thing. But there are probably objects that can bring out the
artist in you and maybe your family.
I don't get my yarn for knitting and crocheting at stores. It's
all from thrift shops, yard sales, mangled afghans, and people's given
up on projects. I let the yarn tell me what it wants to be. (No,
this does not involve illicit substances). Next summer I want to
press wildflowers and make bookmarks.
But my urban ocean is dumpsters. It's amazing what good stuff
people got rid of it. A few days ago I found designer baby clothes
for a friend and really cool cat toys for my Joey.
Ashley Bryan is an American treasure: an all around soulful and
insightful artist an writer, a darker toned Peter Pan who never got
the message that it's time to stop playing and seeing the magic in
life. Any book by him is well worth reading.
On a personal note, I'm recovering very quickly from my fall. I read
a really cool word, adorkable, recently. I think it means adorably
dorky. My chums Dre and Brittney agree I'm adorkable.
A great big shout out goes out to Dre and Brittney and my other
friends including my cat buddy Joey who help make life so beautiful.
jules hathaway


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