Talbot students' most recent art project is inspired by the book "Beautiful Blackbird" by Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan. This book is about appreciating one’s heritage and discovering the beauty within. Students were read the book in art class, taking care to look at the images closely to understand the true meaning of the story. The book tells of Blackbird, who was voted the most beautiful bird in the forest, with his shiny black feathers reflecting all the colors of the rainbow. The other birds, who were colored red, yellow, blue, and green, were so envious that they begged Blackbird to paint their feathers with a touch of black so they could be beautiful too. Although Blackbird warns them that true beauty comes from within, the other birds persist and soon each is given a ring of black around their neck or a dot of black on their wings—markings that detail birds to this very day. The students’ art was made using cut-paper collage, and a gloss medium to make their blackbird shiny and reflective.