The Story of Lightning and Thunder, Written and Illustrated by Ashley Bryan

Title: The Story of Lightning & Thunder
Author/Illustrator: Ashley Bryan
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Atheneum (October 31, 1993)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689824505
ISBN-13: 978-0689824500

Synopsis*: Thunder was a black Mama Sheep and Lightning was her white Ram son. Lightning and Thunder didn't always live up in the sky. They used to live here on Earth in a little village in Africa.  But when Lightning doesn't want to listen to what Thunder tells him to do, he causes trouble for the villagers and they are banished to the sky!

 

 

Review: Ashley Bryan uses a conversational style that reads as if Bryan were speaking directly to the reader. The text uses vernacular and onomatopoeia to mimic the sounds of lightning and thunder as they roll and crash through the sky. This is complemented by Bryan's vivid, stylized illustrations using geometric shapes and bright colors to draw young listeners' attention to page to tell the story of the consequences of being unruly and that even the best of intentions can go terribly awry. The expressions on the faces of the villagers are often quite humorous, and one can't help but feel sorry for Lightning's bumbling and fumbling that causes so much trouble for everyone.

 

 

Awards/Reviews: 

 

Although this particular work has not won any awards, Ashley Bryan has received several honors and awards in his career.

 

Bryan's books have won several awards in children's literature, including the Coretta Scott King Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award from Pennsylvania State University, and the Lupine Award from the Maine Library Association. Bryan himself also received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for achievement in children's literature and the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion from the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival.

• 1981 Coretta Scott King Award Winner for outstanding illustration in Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum
• 1983 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in I'm Going to Sing: Black American Spirituals
• 1987 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding author in Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales
• 1987 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales
• 1988 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals
• 1992 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals
• 1998 Coretta Scott King Award Honor for outstanding illustration in Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry
• 2004 Coretta Scott King Award Winner for outstanding illustration in Beautiful Blackbird
• 2008 Coretta Scott King Award Winner for outstanding illustration in Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals
• 2009  Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature

 "Joyful in both word and palette... Brilliantly colored and ingeniously patterned, Bryan's illustrations are a playful take on stained glass." Publishers Weekly

 

"A delightful adaptation of a Nigerian folktale. There is one of Bryan's uniquely vibrant, swirling, light-filled paintings on every page." Kirkus Reviews

 

 Connections:

 

Read the story aloud to students. Ask the students if any of them know what really happens to cause lightning and thunder. Using a computer or laptop ported to an overhead projector, go to http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-thunderstorms.htm for a kid-based explanation of what causes lighting and thunder, as well as answers to some questions related to thunderstorms.

 

Explain to the students that this is a folktale - a way people used to explain everyday things so that they won't seem so scary. Ask students to think about the things that scare them. Then call on students to ask them what scares them. After three students have given different answers, tell the students that the class is going to write and illustrate their own folktale about something that scares them. Write the three different scary things on the board. Tell the students they are going to vote over which one they are going to write about. Explain that students will raise their hands when the teacher calls out which scary thing they want to write about. Explain that each student may only raise their hand once. Then call out the different things, and write the number of students who voted for each one below the scary thing.

 

Repeat the above steps with a main animal character, the "explanation" of the scary thing, the setting, etc. The next day, the teacher will bring in old magazines and pictures off the Internet the students will combine with their own drawings to create illustrations to match the story. At the end of the unit, each child will get their own copy of the class folktale to take home, and the classroom will have a copy prominently displayed in the room for visitors to see.

 

*It is noted on the copyright page that this is based on Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa, by Elphinstone Dayrell (London: Longmans Green, 1910), 70-71.