Anansi Does The Impossible!: An Ashanti Tale

This is the tale of how Anansi the spider purchases folktales from the Sky-God. The Sky-God tells Anansi to bring him Onini the Python, Osebo the Leopard, the Mmoboro Hornets, and Mmoatia, the dwarf. Anansi using his wits and cunning to capture them all and brings them to the Sky-God in exchange for the folktales.

I enjoyed this book because Anansi was so clever. He used his brain rather than brawn to accomplish his goals.

I would use this book in a unit on folktales and also in a lesson teaching problem solving skills.

"Long, long ago, when the earth was set down and the sky was lifted up, all folktales were owned by the Sky God." So begins this story about the iconic West African trickster figure Anansi, who decides to buy the Sky God's stories for the people on earth. The price may seem impossibly high, but Anansi knows he can rely on his clever wife Aso to help him...

Well known for her many wonderful adaptations of African folklore, Verna Aardema delivers her second Anansi tale with Anansi Does the Impossible, following upon Anansi Finds a Fool (1992). This engaging Ashanti tale is accompanied by Lisa Desimini's colorful collage illustrations, and includes a short glossary. Anansi, who can appear either as a spider or a human, is shown here in his show more arachnid form, in contrast to a recent retelling of the story, Anansi and the Box of Stories (2008). Whether they already know and love Anansi, or are discovering him for the first time, young folklore enthusiasts will enjoy this retelling of the tale. show less

Anansi the spider and his clever wife Aso outwit the god of the sky with hornets a fairy and a python to win back his culture's stories.

Children's Folktale

I liked this book's language a lot. Sure the spiders look less authentic and more like 1990s hip hop throw backs, but you can feel the movement in this story. It's nice to see Aso as such a hero too.

I would definitely include this in a curriculum about myth for lower elementary. It gives great life to an often overlooked and rich mythological culture.

The story of how Anansi, the spider man, tricks the sky god into giving away his stories. The paper cut illustrations are not appealing due to many colors of the same hue resulting in a lack of vibrance and contrast, and due to a lack of movement and expression. The story itself is engaging, but I prefer the version told in Gail Haley's "A Srory, A Story" - the tricks are more surprising.

Anansi does indeed do the impossible in this Ashanti tale told by Verna Aardema. He succeeds in tricking the Sky God, who owned all of the people's stories, into "selling" them back. Sky God demanded a live python, a real fairy, and forty-seven stinging hornets as payment for these stories. Anansi consults his wife, Aso, and together they come up with a plan for each item. Aardema uses words like "pesa, pesa pesa" for whispering, and "gug,gug,gug" for chuckle. The illustrations are done in collage style with many different textures and rich colors. She provides a glossary in the beginning of the book for reference to her unknown vocabulary. The theme of determination is present along with the clever "trickery" used to solve the problem show more of what seems an impossible payment. show less

Peppered with Verna Aardema's trademark ideophones--words that mimic actual sounds--this book makes an ideal read-aloud. Brilliantly realized characters and West African flavor come together in Desimini's extraordinary collage illustrations. Includes a glossary of West African terms and pronunciations. Full color.

Anansi the clever spider is a true mainstay in African folktales. This particular tale is from the Ashanti people and also includes Anansi's cunning wife, Aso. For this adventure, they take on the mighty challenge of buying back all of the folktales from the Sky God, but it will be no easy task. Anansi and Aso somehow manage to come up with an ingenious plan for locating and delivering all of the very rare, and very precarious items the Sky God demands.