What a Wonderful World

What simpler way could there be to express to children the beauty and the harmony in the world around them than through the lyrics of this song by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele, made famous by the great Louis Armstrong? And what better visual accompaniment than the bright colorful artwork by award-winning Ashley Bryan depicting children of many backgrounds (and Louis Armstrong himself) performing a puppet show that brings the lyrics to life. Here is a book of brightness, wonder, and hope to be shared by all.

Ashley Bryan was born in New York City and now lives on a small island off the coast of Maine where he writes and illustrates books most of the year. A former teacher at Dartmouth College, he has compiled, written, and illustrated many books for Atheneum, mainly African folktales, such as the recent The Story of Lightning and Thunder and collections of spirituals, such as All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals. His book Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum, received the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration, and Lion and the Ostrich Chicks was a Coretta Scott King Honor Book.