The tale of how Ananse the spider man got his stories from the sky god. ( )

23 copies

Once, all the stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God; he kept them in a golden box that sat next to his royal stool. Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy the Sky God’s stories. Spinning a web up to the sky, Ananse told the Sky God what he wanted.

Nyame laughed. And then he told Ananse the price for the stories.

Ananse was to bring Nyame three things: Osebo the leopard-of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmboro the hornet who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see.

Will Anase be able to meet the Sky God’s price? And if he does, what will he do with the stories?

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This retelling of an African tale, winner of the Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children, is one of the many “spider stories” in the African tradition. These stories tell how defenseless men or animals outwit others and meet with success despite great odds.

Sprinkled throughout the telling of the tale are several African words; young readers will be able to tell what they mean by their sounds. Nyame laughs: twe, twe, twe. Ananse ran: yiridi, yiridi, yiridi. All the assembled nobles shouted: Eeeee, Eeeee, Eeeee.

The African practice of repeating words is also part of the telling of the tale; this repetition makes those words stronger.

Young readers are sure to enjoy reading the story filled with Ananse’s exciting adventures; the message that anyone who perseveres has the opportunity to succeed is one that is especially important for young readers to hear. The story itself is clever and captivating; young readers will find much to appreciate here.

Highly recommended. ( )

How Ananse was able to overcome the various characters is the basis of the theme of using ingenuity to defeat great obstacles.
Because this is a myth, the reader is able to see the connection between the characteristics of a spider and one who "weaves stories."

This African Tale tells about a time that there were no stories on earth for children to hear. The stories were in the possession of Sky God, so Ananse spun a web to go visit the Sky God. Ananse was told by the Sky God to bring back three specific things in exchange for the stories, but Sky God believed that Ananse would be too weak to follow through. Ananse returned with the things that Sky God requested. Therefore, he was given all of the stories to share with the children. This book is a good lesson not to judge a book by its cover. ( )