He helped broaden children’s literature, treating Black characters with dignity, not disdain

Mr. Bryan wrote or illustrated more than 70 children’s books over six decades, in addition to making paintings, linoleum block prints, collage works, hand puppets and elaborate stained glass windows, which he crafted from sea glass that washed up near his home on Little Cranberry Island, overlooking Acadia National Park in Maine.

“Each day, I look forward to finding the child in myself who’s anxious to create something new and wonderful,” he told The Washington Post last year on the eve of his 98th birthday. “I always have ideas whirling in my head.”