Pat Cummings

When Ananse the spider discovers that the chief's daughter is to be given in marriage to whomever can guess her name, along with half of the chief's kingdom, that arachnid trickster immediately sets out to win such a prize for himself. Although fortunate enough to overhear the chief's daughter in conversation with her servants, and thereby learn her name, Ananse is himself tricked when he entrusts this information to Lizard, who makes good use of it for his own benefit...

As someone who has show more loved Ananse stories since childhood, and who has read many different retellings of many different tales, I picked up Ananse and the Lizard: A West African Tale with great anticipation, especially as I have had the pleasure of meeting author/illustrator Pat Cummings many times through my former job managing a children's bookstore. I am happy to say I was not at all disappointed, finding both the story and artwork both engrossing and amusing. It was fun to watch the trickster himself get tricked in this story, and I enjoyed the bright, colorful illustrations, created using watercolor, gouache and colored pencils. The only thing I would critique would be the fact that not enough information was given about this specific tale's source. We learn in the rear dust-jacket blurb that Cummings traveled to Ghana and Nigeria, and listened to many tales, before finding this one in a bookstore in Accra. My question would be: which book did it come from? Was it one of the ones by Peggy Appiah, or something more recent? I would have loved to know! Other than that, this is one I would recommend to all young folklore enthusiasts, as well as to fellow Ananse fans like me. show less

Starts out with a semi-typical kid surviving loss and massive displacement, getting used to a new school, but quickly introduces some genuinely creepy ghost encounters, that then weave throughout the book. Masterful storytelling that allows Trace's relationships to slowly unfold as he gets used to his new surroundings.

Trace is a middle-schooler (12? I think? 6th or 7th grader? I can't remember if this was specified), who has just been picked to lead a group project on the the decade of US show more history in the 1860s. The group project ends up leading him to the New York Public Library, where Trace has an experience that alienates him from his classmates and shakes up his understanding of the world. I don't want to put spoilers in here, because there's some interesting and delicate plot shifts, and it's cool to see everything gradually connect. Highlights for me: Trace's colorful aunt, with her eclectic crowd of Brooklyn friends and her deep love of exploratory cooking; mean girl comeuppance; kids being kids in the awkward beginning of romance age; Trace's journey to healing as he comes to terms with the recent deaths of his parents and his own survival; particularly vivid and sometimes dreamlike scenes, beautifully conveyed; a really cool take on finding what interests you in history and making it relatable. Enjoyable read.

Advanced Reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. show less

I loved this book! As a creative person, I really enjoy hearing about where some of the best creatove minds got their start and what allowed them to get to the point they are currently at in their lives.

I'm not an artist, nor do I long to be one professionally. I enjoy drawing and painting, having taken a little bit of art in high school (I got out of it, twice, because of the teacher and just the idea that every piece had to have some kind of meaning or point instead of just being show more something I imagined or had a desire to put onto paper). I'm not very good at it and I haven't mastered a lot of the basics. Where I want to excel at, more than anything, is writing. Writing creatively. Hearing these words from different illustrators who also sometimes write their own books was especially helpful to me and inspirational to me, particularly since I've seen some of these illustrator's art in books I read as a child. It's just nice to see how a childhood talent can become something more. I would love to see a book like this centered around children's authors, or any author in general. show less

I've been faithfully purchasing Holiday House's I Like To Read titles, since they're one of the few easy reader series to offer titles in the A-E guided reading levels, but I have mixed feelings about some of them.

This one is a level D, so a little more complex. The pictures are pleasant, but the story is kind of bland. The endpages show a black girl curled up on the couch with her mother and the cat, reading together. Then the title page shows the girl alone, waking up from her nap, the cat show more still sleeping on her lap. She grabs the cat who makes a dive for the coffee, then wonders "Where is Mommy?" The rest of the story shows her looking for her mother, while glimpses through the window and various clues show that she's in the garden. Eventually, just as Mommy returns with a basket of kale, she figures out where Mommy has been.

The art is simple and colorful and it's nice to see a black mother and daughter enjoying reading and gardening together, but the girl is nearly as tall as her mother. She has to be at least seven but her behavior is more suitable to a preschooler.

Verdict: While this isn't my favorite, it's a good choice for very young children who are learning to read and the simple art will let them concentrate on the words while still following the clues to solve the mystery.

ISBN: 9780823439355; Published November 2019 by Holiday House; Purchased for the library show less