Anansi The Spider

I like how cultural this book is and it's a great addition to a diverse collection that a classroom should have of folktales. The colors are vivid and the lines bold,

Folklore. This African folk tale is about Anansi the spider. This animated African folk tale features the trickster character Anansi, a spider with human qualities. When Anansi goes on a voyage and falls into trouble, his six sons come to his rescue. Later, Anansi finds a beautiful light in the

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forest and decides to give it to the son who saved him, but Anansi must choose which son deserves the prize. This book is a great tale for a cultural discussion of African culture and their classic tales.

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This is an folktale of the Ashanti people in Ghana, Africa. Anansi is a huge spider with some human features. He has six sons. The basic plot is that Anansi goes for a walk one day and gets in trouble with a fish, then a falcon. All six sons help save their father. He finds a glowing orb in the

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forest and wants to give it to one of his suns as a reward, but he can't decide who to give it to. He asks Nyame, the God of all things, for advice. The problem is resolved when Nyame takes the glowing globe high into the sky where all six sons can enjoy it; this is how the moon got in the sky. McDermott's colorful and sharp illustrations, influenced by African patterns, were awarded a Caldecott honor. This is a good book for reading aloud or acting out, because the text is written to mirror the cadence of African English speech. Stories like this one, which explain how something came to be, are sometimes called porquoi (from the French word for "why) or just so stories. The story is also useful for promoting multiculturalism, particularly in showing that other cultures may believe in different gods, and have different ways of understanding the world and how it came to be. This is a great book for a public or school library children's collection.

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I loved it. Great for storytime for small children

Anansi has six sons, each with their own talent, when Anansi falls in the river his sons use their talents to rescue him. Anansi finds an orb and decides to give it to the son who saved him, since he can't tell which son saved him he asks a god to hang it in the sky and it becomes the moon. Both

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the text and the illustrations support an authentic voice (as far as I know). The pictures are boldly colored and contain small, pertinent details for careful observers. Excellent addition to any picture book collection for all ages.

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Anansi the spider has 6 sons. Anansi runs into trouble and his sons find a way to save him. The all deserve a reward but only one reward is found, who to give it to is the dilemma. Maybe the ’God of all things’ (Nyame) can help.

I am not familiar with African folklore and mythology, this one is

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new and very interesting to me. While it was written in a different cadence than most kids stories, the kids followed easily and understood the story. It even left it open for more conversation, by not saying everything out right and letting the kids form the conclusions. Such brilliant geometric designs in the background of the pictures also led to talk about cultural differences between here (in North America) and there (set in Ghana, Africa), while the pictures of the spider brothers were colorful and well defined enough to make it easy to follow which was which. The kids really enjoyed the adventure of the father, Anansi and the ending, they liked it because they were able to tell me the meaning of the final page.

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Good folktale from the people of Ashanti and how they became at having a moon. It all started with Anansi the spider and his six sons. Fun colorful pictures.

The pages of this book are fun and intriguing. You can stare at them for a while. The story is of a father who has six sons with special talents. They use their talents to save the father. When the father can't decide who to reward, he calls on Nyame, god of all things to help him. Nyame rewards

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them all with a bright moon in the night sky.

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This book was about a spider named Anansi, He had 6 sons and named them See Trouble, Road builder, River drinker, Game skinner, Stone thrower, and Cushion. As we read, father gets into trouble and each son is able to help their father with each of their talents. Father found a gift for one of his

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sons for helping him, but did not know which one to give it to since all of them helped him. He called Nyame, The god of all things, to hold on to this gift. As they continued to argue, Nyame took it and put it in the sky. It is the moon.

I enjoyed this story because it had suspense when we did not know what the gift was until the end. It relates to real life because it makes children think if thats really where the moon came from.

In the classroom, I would make spider cupcakes with different characteristics and ask the children to give each a name based on the characteristics. I would also have a poll to see where each child thinks the moon came from.

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This book is about a father spider and his six sons. Each son has a very special gift. Father spider got lost one night. Each son, using their gift, helped rescue their father. Father spider was so thankful for his sons. One night, father found a beautiful, white globe and wanted to give it to the

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son that deserved it the most. He could not decide who deserves it the most so it sits in the sky until he does.

I thought this was a cute book with a happy ending. Positive teamwork is important. Everyone is special in their own way!

I would have students create a spider out of construction paper. As another part to this activity, I would have my students create a special talent/gift that their special spider would have.

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This story is about a father spider named Anansi who has six sons each with their own you unique gift. One son can see trouble, one can build roads, one can drink water from rivers, one is a game skinner, one can throw stones and another one is as soft as a cushion. One day Anansi sets out on a

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journey but encounters danger along the way. Each of his six sons’ uses their special gifts and all their effort together save their father. One day while in the forest, he finds a mysterious globe of light. He decides that he wants to give it to one of his six sons for rescuing him, but he can’t decide who to give it to. He asks for help from the GOD of All Things, Nyame. Since neither of them can decide, Nyame takes the great globe up into the sky for all to see.

I enjoyed this story because children of all ages can relate. The younger children see it as a rescue story. The older children see it as a story were everyone plays their part to get something accomplished. I would recommend this book to anyone who have children and wants to teach them about working together.

I can incorporate this story into my class by having my students draw a picture of the father spider and his six sons. I could also put them in pairs of to and give them an assignment to accomplish as a group, each playing their role to get the assignment accomplished. Finally, I could have them rewrite a short, similar story using their favorite animal or insect.

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Anansi goes on a long journey and falls into water, the fish that catches him is cut open, the bird that catches him is knocked out of the sky with a rock. These things happen in conjunction with each son’s ability such as when first son “Sees Trouble” looks in the distance and sees that his

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father has fallen into trouble. Second son “Road Builder” makes the road so that they can all get to their father. son “Game Slayer” cuts open the fish, or son “Stone Thrower” knocks the fish from the sky. The spiders win because they work together each using his special talent. These are all skills. which would have been valued skill to the people hearing the story.

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This book was about a spider named Anansi and his six sons. His sons each have a unique gift, and their names describe these gifts: See Trouble, Road builder, River drinker, Game skinner, Stone thrower, and Cushion. Anansi gets into trouble and each son helps with their own specific talent. Anansi

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wanted to give a gift to his sons for helping him. He gave the gift to Nyame to hold, and the sons saw it in the sky, and it was the moon. I love the simple words used to tell this story, and the vibrant illustrations.

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Anasi, the spider had six sons who helped rescue him when he became lost. He wanted to reward who rescued him but since they all did he was not sure what to do since he had only one gift- The Globe of Light. He went to Nyame (the God of all Things) to ask his opinion and was not able to decide. So

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they chose to put the Globe of Light into the sky which became the moon that shines over the Earth for all the see and enjoy.

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Summary: Anansi had six little baby spiders. The six brothers and sisters had to work hard and together to rescure their dad from being eaten by a fish. In the end they are happy to be a family that is there for one another.

Personal Reactions: I think the book was well drawn and with bright colors

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for the kids. It helps kids to understand that family will always do their best to one another.

Class Extension: You have the kids drawl their brothers and sisters as spiders. Then include how their spider brothers or sisters could help them with a problem.

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Adapted from the animated film by Gerald McDermott. Taking place as we are led to believe in Africa, Anansi the spider to the African People had 6 sons. Anansi left and went far away. While he was traveling he got lost and was in trouble, he called for the help of his 6 sons who all worked together

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to safely get Anansi home. The father is then asked to decide which son helped to get him home, when a decision couldn't be made the gift of the mysterious light was put in the sky for all to enjoy.
The ilustrations were a bit odd, colorful, but odd. I felt the underlying story was easy to pick out. I enjoyed how the end was handled by sharing the prize to all the sons to share.
I feel as a classroom extension, team work can be discussed. The children can also describe how in their home each hild may have a chore or task that they have to do. Also each child can tell a story of how they helped someone. Some light math lesson could be used here with the 6 sons and the spider having 8 legs, how many legs were there?

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The story is about a father spider and his 8 spider sons who all have different gifts for various reasons. The father gets in a bad situation and the sons set out to find and in the end help their father by using their special gifts. In the end, the father is so appreciative of each son that he

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doesn't know how to give which son the one gift he has to endow with. So, he asks the Creator to decide for him and in the end the one gift ends up being shared by all and not just by the spider sons alone.

I really liked the story because it was teaching from a mythological stand point that a lot of cultures teach from in the history of their cultures. A lesson in life so to speak. The illustration was very bright and colorful and caught ones attention very well.

I would use this in my classroom not only for the colors of the book and how it captures the attention of children but also to teach children how mythology is used to teach people human lessons in life. I probably would use this with a third grader class or there about.

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Anansi the Spider gets into trouble again when he wanders far from home, gets lost, and falls into trouble. Fortunately for Anansi, he has six sons, each with their own special powers, that when used together in the right order, are enough to save him from peril. Upon their happy return home Anansi

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discovers a beautiful globe of light and decides to give it to his most deserving son. He asks Nyame, the Ashanti God of all things, to help him decide which of his sons is more deserving. Nyame agrees to hold onto the globe until he makes his decision, but when he sees all six of them arguing over who is most deserving of the prize, he takes the globe high up into the sky for all to see.

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Anansi the spider gets lost one day in his travels, and each one of his 6 sons work together to use their special gifts to help bring their father home safely. Anansi wants to give one of his sons a prize for his rescue and cannot decide which son to give it to, so he asks for help from God, whom

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placed his gift (the moon) in the sky until Anansi decides which son deserved it most.

I thought the story was special how all the sons were able to use their gifts. It was a little dissapointing that Anansi only wanted to reward one son because they understood each others special gifts and worked together so well to use them, I did not want to see them turn against each other. The illustrations were beautiful and colorful, it was a great way to represent the African culture and share a folklore from the Ashanti people.

A great story to open up a discussion by asking if they think Anansi was right that only one son should get rewarded. And then talk about how the brothers used teamwork, and how they decided which gift would help solve each problem.

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An interesting tale about the adventure of Anansi the spider and his six sons from originally from the Ashanti people in Ghana, Africa. With big bold colors (I think it was mentioned in the back that only four colors were used), and big type this would make a good early reader book. It would also

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be good for inside the classroom or library so that children can be exposed to different types of tales from different regions of the world instead of the typical european tales that most children are exposed to.

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The ordinary becomes magical... I enjoy this definition of this mythical tale, one that would have been handed down as part of an oral tradition. This book is brightly colored, visually appealing and has a rhythm to its words. Students would be able to predict what the sons might do to help Anansi.

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There are several Anansi stories, my first and second grade students really enjoy them.

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Summery: This is a story about Anansi the Spider he has six sons each of them have a gift. One day when Anansi gets into trouble each of his sons gifts come into play to help save Anansi's life. He rewards his sons with a gift of the moon but can’t decide which son to give it to so he puts it up

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in the sky for all to see.
Personal Reaction: This book is great for children it is very colorful and motivating. The illustrations are very good and the story is something most kids will have never heard before.
Classroom Extension Ideas: To inform the Children in a class discussion that it is okay to be different and to express ones self, ask the children if they have any questions about the book. Have the kid’s drawl a picture of what they think the moon looks like that Anansi gave his sons.

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Summary:
Anansi the spider is a tale of how the moon was put into the sky. Anansi was a spider and he had many sons, each with his own special talent. One day Anansi went traveling and ran into some trouble. One of his sons could see that their father was in trouble so they all rushed to save him.

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Each of his sons contributed to saving their father by using their special talent. One night Anansi came across a big, glowing ball of light. He decided that he wanted to give this to one of his sons for saving him, but he couldn't decided which one deserved it most. So he called to the God Nyame to ask for his help. He asked him to hold the ball of light while he decided which son deserved it most. When he told his sons about it, they all began arguing. When the God Nyame saw this he decided to put the ball of light up in the sky and it remains there today.

Personal Reflection:
I believe that this story does of good job of teaching that everyone is special. Everyone may not be the same or be able to do the same things, but everyone has their own special talent. I think that the illustrations do a good job of keeping the feel of the culture in the book.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. I think it would be special for the kids to sit in a circle and go around and each one say what their special talent is.
2. Have the children say what super power or talent they would have if they could pick any in the world, and how would they use it to help people.

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Summary: This book is about a spider named Anansi. Anansi has six sons. Each one of Anansi’s sons has a unique name: See-trouble, Road-builder, River-drinker, Game-skinner, Stone-thrower, and Cushion. Each of their name is based on a talent that they possess. One day Anansi went on an adventure

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and got in trouble, but his son See-trouble could see that his father was in danger. All of Anansi’s sons set out to help rescue their father. Each sons used their unique talent to help save Anansi. Because his sons saved him he wanted to reward them with a bright light that he found. However, Anansi couldn’t decide which of his six sons to give it to. So then he decided to hang the bright light high in the night sky for all to enjoy. As it turns out the bright light was the moon.

Personal Reaction- I think this is an awesome book regarding culture. I also think the author did a very good job of telling a traditional story about family and how they should work together while incorporating culture in the illustrations. This is definitely a book that I would want to read to my class when we discuss culture. The setting/culture of this book is from Ghana.

Classroom Extension- (a) I could have me students draw spider pictures and color them of their family members to hang around our classroom.
(b) As a class we could look at other things from this culture to help students have a better understanding the illustrations and people of Ghana. In addition we could look at a map together to see where the country was located, and possibly discuss other traditions and characteristic of Ghana culture.

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