Anansi The Spider

Anansi The Spider
Gerald McDermott
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972
Pages: 48
Reading Level: 4-8
Genre: Picture Book

Anansi is a spider who had six sons. These sons were See Trouble, Road Builder, River Drinker, Game Skinner, Stone Thrower, and Cushion. One day Anansi walked far from home and fell into the river and got swallowed by a fish. See Trouble saw what happened and yelled to his brothers that their father was in trouble. Road Builder built a road to get to him, River Drinker drank the river that the fish lived in, and Game Skinner skinned the fish that swallowed father. But the trouble wasn't over. Just then a bird flew by and picked up Anansi in it's beak. Stone thrower threw a stone at the bird and it dropped his father. Cushion helped father to land softly so he wouldn't get hurt. That night at home, Anansi found a great globe of light. He wanted to give it to the sun who had helped him the most, but he couldn't figure out which one had. So Anansi gave the globe to Nyame, the god of all things, and asked him to hold it until Anansi could figure out which son to give it to. They couldn't figure out which son to give it to, so Nyame took the light up into the sky for everyone to enjoy. The moon is still there today.

I would recommend this book to people interested in learning about the Ashanti people

The book could cause children to really believe that the moon really was placed in the sky because of a spider, which is not true.

My Reaction: I really like this tale of Anansi the Spider. It allows me to see into a culture I probably wouldn't have otherwise experienced

My rating: ***