| Title | : | Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0823407985 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780823407989 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 32 |
| Publication | : | First published September 1, 1988 |
When Anansi the Spider finds a strange moss-covered rock in the forest, he uses it to trick all his animal friends. But Little Bush Deer is onto Anansi's scheme, and hatches a plan to beat him at his own game.
Based on tales originating in West Africa and familiar in Caribbean culture, the five-book Anansi the Trickster series is full of slapstick humor and mischief. Eric A. Kimmel's imaginative energy combined with Janet Stevens' expressive illustrations create the perfect silly stories for fun-loving kids.
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock Reviews
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That famous West African trickster Anansi is at it again in this picture-book from author Eric A. Kimmel and illustrator Janet Stevens, the first of a number of titles they created that detail the spider's adventures. Discovering a moss-covered rock in the forest that knocks out anyone who speaks a certain phrase aloud - "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock" - Anansi uses this knowledge to incapacitate each of the other animals in the area, thereby gaining the time necessary to steal their food. It falls to shy Little Bush Deer, who has been hiding in the forest and has seen everything, to turn the tables and trick the trickster...
Anansi is a well-known and beloved trickster figure, one who originated with the Akan people of Ghana, but who also has a significant role in the folklore of other West African nations, the Caribbean, and African-America. In some tellings he takes the form of a spider, and in some, a man. As someone who greatly enjoys stories devoted to his tricky adventures, I picked up Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock with some anticipation, especially as I have read other folkloric retellings from both Kimmel and Stevens. On the whole, I enjoyed both story and artwork here, although I was disappointed to see that Kimmel did not include an author's note detailing his source material. This is something I particularly look for in folkloric retellings, and it was a surprise to find it missing here, as I know the author has included such notes, however brief, in many of his other titles. Leaving that aside, this was an engaging retelling, and is one I would recommend to young folklore enthusiasts, particularly those who appreciate trickster tales. Readers looking for more Anansi stories might also want to pick up either Adwoa Badoe's
The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse Stories or Peggy Appiah's
Tales of an Ashanti Father, both of which are excellent. Joyce Cooper Arkhurst's 1964 collection,
The Adventures of Spider: West African Folktales, is also engaging, and has the added interest of being the very first title that celebrated African-American artist
Jerry Pinkney ever illustrated. -
Anansi: what not to do. We have really enjoyed this (and other books) of these African folktales.
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“Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” is an old African folktale retold by Eric A. Kimmel, along with illustrations by Janet Stevens. This book is about how Anansi the Spider tries to trick all the animals in the forest by showing them a mysterious rock. This book is surely a delight to anyone who is interested in African folktales.
The story starts off with Anansi the Spider walking through the forest when he spotted a strange looking moss-covered rock and then he exclaims:
“Isn’t this a strange moss-covered rock?”
Suddenly, Anansi falls down unconscious and when he wakes up again, he is confused at what had just happened and when he repeated:
“Isn’t this a strange moss-covered rock?”
He falls back down again and when he wakes up the second time, he realizes the power of the moss-covered rock and he decides to use it to his advantage. Anansi then goes around tricking the other animals such as Lion and Elephant, by leading them to the moss covered rock and once the animals repeat the magic words:
“Isn’t this a strange moss-covered rock?”
They fall down unconscious on the ground and Anansi goes back to their houses and steals their food. Meanwhile, Little Bush deer has been watching Anansi the whole time and she decided to teach Anansi a lesson when Anansi tries to trick her into going to see the moss-covered rock.
Will Little Bush Deer fall for Anansi’s trick or will Little Bush Deer have the last laugh?
Read the rest of this book to find out!
Eric A. Kimmel’s retelling of this ancient folktale is hilarious and charming as Anansi uses a magical rock to get what he wants or at least that what he thinks. I thought that the idea of using an unlikely substance such as the moss-covered rock to take advantage of people by knocking them unconscious was ingenious since we usually hear about how people would simply use magic spells to control people. Janet Stevens’ illustrations are done beautifully as she illustrates each animal with realistic features that they make the animals seem to come alive in this book. The illustrations are also extremely colorful especially of the images of the forest itself as the plants are mainly in colors of pink, green, brown, and all manner of other colors and they make this book extremely bright to look at. Probably, the image that stood out the most was the image of Anansi himself as he has small beady eyes and long legs.
“Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” is a superb tale about how tricking someone can get you in massive trouble if you are not careful and many children would definitely call this an instant treat to read over and over again. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since I do not find anything wrong with this book, unless children might have a hard time pronouncing Anansi’s name.
Review is also on:
Rabbit Ears Book Blog
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Anansi and the moss-covered rock is an old African folktale about a ... spider who uses a magic rock to trick other animals and get their food. But Little Bush Deer finds out what Anansi is doing and decided to teach him a lesson. The interesting thing about the tale is that although all the animals recover their food, Anansi doesn't really learns any lesson, and goes on playing tricks, as is his nature as a spider.
Janet Stevens illustrations are very good, with the animals humanized at the point of walking in two legs, and many "modern" details in the illustrations.
Find more children's book reviews in
Reviews in Chalk -
There are several different ways to spell Anansi (Anancy, Nanzi and Nancy are also accepted). These trickster tales originated in Ghana and are now popular worldwide. Sometimes Anansi is depicted as a man although he is usually portrayed as a spider. Usually Anansi is the one who outwits his much bigger, stronger rivals such as Elephant and Lion but sometimes he is the one who gets his comeuppance.
Find
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock at the Westminster Public Library!
Some more trickster tales-
Find
The tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit at the Westminster Public Library! -
I love this trickster folktale. I can't wait to read it to my second graders. It's part of my Folktales Around the World Unit.
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That spider is a creep!
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My Year 2 placement class have enjoyed reading this as their class text and "story mapping" and "story stepping" in order to write their own retelling. Anansi is a prolific figure in African and Caribbean folklore meaning it's a great story for learning about different cultures and environments.
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One of my favorite Anansi tales. I read this long ago and it was popular with my young audiences and my own daughters. Great fun to be reminded of it in my Goodreads feed this morning.
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Oh Anansi! How I love reading Anansi books with my students. In this trickster tale, Anansi discovers a sneaky way to get some delicious food, as he is much too lazy to grow food himself. How many animals can Anansi trick? Will anyone ever stop him? Will he ever learn his lesson and stop his foolish tricks?
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Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock is a West African story that is also known in the Caribbean. I have read many of the Anansi stories, but this is my favorite by far. We find Anansi, the spider in the forest coming upon a moss-covered rock. As soon as he says the words, "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock?" he falls to the ground in a faint. After repeating this action a couple of times, he realizes what's happening and decides to use this magical rock to trick the other animals in the forest.
He starts out at lion's house and decides he wants lion's yams. So he invites lion to go for a walk and takes him to the moss-covered rock. After lion utters the magical statement and passes out on the ground, lazy Anansi rushes back to lion's house and takes the yams. Anansi continues doing this with several other animals, each time collecting food along the way and bringing it to his house.
Unknowingly, he is being watched by a little bush deer who decides to teach Anansi a lesson by turning the tables on him. When Anansi comes to the bush deer's home, he invites him to come along on a walk, hoping to lead him to the magical rock, and then return to bush deer's house where he will steal several coconuts.
However, Little Bush Deer is aware of Anansi's ploy, and gets Anansi himself to say the magical statement and pass out. While Anansi is passed out, Little Bush Deer goes to Anansi's house with the other animals, and they all reclaim the food Anansi stole from them. Upon waking, Anansi returns home in a daze and sees that all his contraband has been taken back by their rightful owners.
What I love most about the story are the illustrations. The animals are human-like in their movements and gestures, and remind me of several well-loved characters from books I read when I was a child. Having used this book in my classroom years ago, I remember the children also being delighted with the colorful, detailed illustrations.
This book is appropriate for kindergarteners up through second or even third graders. Anansi is a well-know character for most students, however they never fail to be amazed by the fact that Anansi never seems to learn his lesson at the end of each story. -
3.5 - This was another audio we listened to in the car on the way back to the library yesterday. Julia followed along in print as we listened.
I think this is the third Anansi book we've read, along with
Anansi and the Magic Stick and
Anansi and the Talking Melon. I know there's at least one more, maybe many, out there.
One of us happened upon Anansi and the Talking Melon on day awhile back at the library and after reading that found that we both like the authors style and the subjects, along with the characters.
So far each that we've read have been audios and I'm thinking I'll just get the print for the next one. I forget who the narrator was for this one but from what I recall, all three books are read by the same person and while he is good, he's annoying for me. Julia likes the voices he uses for the animals but his voice for Anansi grates on my nerves something awful. I feel bad saying that because while I don't have much experience with audio books of any sort it is obvious he narrates well.
This story is much like the others and uses a lot, if not all, of the same animal characters. I like that Anansi is continual in his actions. In each book we've read so far Anansi is the lazy trickster while the others all pull their own loads and help each other. Of course the morals of the stories are there, in full view and very easy for children to pull out. Each one we've listened to has been a great conversation starter and the illustrations are perfect for the stories and characters.
I think I'll find
Anansi Goes Fishing next and I'll read it myself to see if we like the different. There are a few other of Kimmel's books I want to try also, non-Anansi. -
This has been a summer for reading books about Anansi. We loved listening to
Jerry Terheyden narrate
Anansi and the Talking Melon and
Anansi Goes Fishing while we followed along with the book. Unfortunately, we couldn't borrow an audio version of this book from our local library, but we still enjoyed the story and loved to see the trickster get tricked. -
Anansi the spider is a beloved folklore character, and this picture book is based on a West African tale familiar in Caribbean culture. The illustrations are nice,but the story is one of those repetitious ones so often found in children’s books, where the same situation repeats with different characters. I don’t know if this repetition is appealing to young children, I suppose it must be as it’s so common, but it doesn’t make for a very engaging story to me.
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I enjoy these stories of Anansi and the trouble he causes for his self purposes. I like it when he gets his own.
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One of my favorite all time read-alouds and trickster tales.
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engaging trickster story with a neat twist. I love Little Bush Deer!
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This is my favorite of Kimmel and Stevens' Anansi fables! Anansi--a conniving spider--is a well-known character in West African and Caribbean folklore. But in this tale, the other animals find a way to turn the tables on the pesky spider! When Anansi finds a magic rock that puts a sleeping spell on anyone who utters the right words, he uses his powers of persuasion to get the other forest animals to say the magic words. Then, while they are still under the spell, he steals their food. But Little Bush Deer is not to be fooled. Instead, he fanagles a way to get Anansi under the spell, and the animals get their food supplies back.
Kimmel's writing is alive and Stevens' illustrations are colorful and playful--together they create books that are humorous and so much fun to enjoy with little ones! -
"Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock" by Eric Kimmel is the retold story of Anansi the trickster spider from West African folklore. This book is an excellent read-aloud with repetitive and predictable sequences in the story. Whenever I read this to my elementary age students, they are captivated.
Trickster tales (a bit of the naughty) is always a fun read. Kimmel's illustrations are beautifully drawn with interesting details (look for little bush deer). A moral, as is normal for folktales, is delivered within this story in an engaging way (akin to Wilee Coyote). Folktales usually tell the stories and moral lessons of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.
When reading this book as a read-aloud to a class of students the text offers areas of quiet "They went walking, walking, walking," which contrast with areas of predicable surprise when the animals are tricked by Anansi "WHAM!" The suspense of the characters blindly stumbling into Anansi's trap and then the surprise ending when the hero of the story is the smallest and quietest animal of the bunch, makes for a perfect read aloud with a great moral as a talking point for students. You can't keep a good trickster down, he always comes back from more, and Eric Kimmel offers up other Anansi stories. "Anansi Goes Fishing" and "Anansi and the Talking Melon." -
This clever retelling of an old African folktale features Anansi, a trickster figure, who uses cunning to deceive and exploit other characters for his own benefit until his tricks backfire. Thanks to Bush Deer, the wise learn that misuse of power leads to one’s own downfall and results in retribution, having learned a valuable lesson from foolish Anansi, who will continue to use his old tricks. Stevens’ vibrant illustrations depict the animals with elaborately detailed illustrations, but strangely show them walking on their hind legs like hybrid humans. As other reviewers have noted, this retelling should include endnotes to explain the origins of this African folktale, discuss the role of a trickster, and pose questions that explore the morality of Anansi’s actions.
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Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock is a classic tale about the spider who loves to play tricks on his friends. As an adult, you really feel for the animals who fall for the tricks and cheer for the Little Bush Deer as she saves the day. Children especially find the antics of Anansi in this story to be amusing and love to predict what is going to happen next. Kimmel is able to weave a tale of everyone's favorite spider while teaching a valuable lesson.
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I have no idea how old this story is but it is definitely a folk tale with a lesson that stands the test of time. Anansi is a cheating, lazy spider. He thinks he's outsmarted all the animals and stolen their goods. But, in the end, it is Anansi who ends up empty handed and alone. The concepts of right and wrong, hard work and friendship are all conversations you can have with your kids from this book.
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Mads (age 7) has discovered a love for trickster stories, and Anansi stories in particular, thanks to the Anansi series by Eric A. Kimmel and Janet Stevens. Janet Stevens’s illustrations are delightful, with one exception: I don’t particularly like her Anansi--he is neither incredibly spider-like, nor very expressive.
