Winner of the 1971 Caldecott Medal
Many African stories, whether or not they are about Kwaku Ananse the "spider man," are called, "Spider Stories." This book is about how that came to be. The African storyteller begins: "We do not really mean, we do not really mean that what we are about to say is true. A Story, a story; let it come, let it go." And it tells that long, long ago there were no stories on earth for children to hear. All stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy some of these stories, so he spun a web up to the sky and went up to bargain with the Sky God. The price the Sky God asked was Osebo, the leopard of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmboro the hornet who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see. How Ananse paid the price is told in a graceful and clever text, with forceful, lovely woodcut illustrations.---from the publisher
36 pages 978-0689205118 Ages 4-8
Keywords: Africa, folktale, spider, gods and goddesses, diversity, diverse books, multicultural, Caldecott Medal, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old, stories, storyteller
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A long, long time ago before there were any planes sailing the sky or cell phones buzzing, there were not even any stories on earth to tell. All stories belonged to the sky god, Nyame, who wasn't just going to give his stories to anyone. Ananse, the Spiderman, wanted them and he knew just the tricks to spin. After agreeing on a deal to buy the stories with Nyame, he set out to capture Osebo, the leopard-of-the-terrible -teeth, Mmboro the hornets who-sting-like-fire, and Mmotia, the fairy whom-men-never-see.
Submitted by M. R.R.
