Anansi The Trickster Spider

Anansi The Trickster Spider - Volumes One and Two (16 short stories) The stories featured in this book introduce Anansi the Spider, a traditional African trickster character. Anansi is as clever as he is lazy and he loves to prove just how smart he is by tricking the people of the village and the animals of the jungle. Luckily Anansi is not always as clever as he likes to think he is. Sometimes everything backfires on him and he becomes the victim of his own tricks. This book contains 16 short stories that were originally published as two eBook volumes, available to download from Amazon. These stories are: - Anansi and the gum doll - How Anansi got to ride Tiger - How Anansi turned an ear of corn into one hundred goats - How Anansi won the stories of the Sky God - Why spiders stay on the ceiling - Anansi and the witch named 'Five' - Anansi and the pot of wisdom - Anansi and the Tommy (Thompson Gazelle) - How Anansi missed four parties on one night - Anansi invites Turtle to tea - Anansi, Fly and Ant win the sun - Anansi and the talking melon - Anansi and the moss covered rock - Why Anansi has thin, long legs - Anansi and the field of corn - Anansi and the tug of war For FREE Anansi themed activities and downloads visit www.anansi-spider.com

"Terheyden's narration makes the characters come alive. A truly delightful addition to any collection." - School Library Journal

"Anansi the Spider, a master trickster, uses the powers of a magical rock to dupe his neighbors...a musical introduction sets the mood...the text of the book is read clearly and expressively."-Booklist

"Allow me to introduce myself." But he needed no introduction. "Anansi the spider!" said Anansi the boy. "The tales were true!" "Traditional tales are always true," the spider answered, laughing. "Nothing lasts so long as truth, nor travels quite so far." Now in paperback! Award-winning author of Ghana Must Go, Taiye Selasi, reimagines the story of Anansi, the much-loved trickster, for a new generation. Kweku has grown up hearing stories about the mischievous spider Anansi. He is given the nickname Anansi by his father because of his similarly cheeky ways. On a holiday to visit his beloved Grandma in Ghana, Anansi the spider and Anansi the boy meet, and discover a magical pot that can be filled with whatever they want. Anansi fills it again and again with his favourite red-red stew, and eats so much that he feels sick. Will he learn to share this wonderful gift? This charming retelling of a West African story teaches readers about the dangers of greed, and the importance of being kind. Tinuke Fagborun's colourful illustrations bring the magic and wonder of the tale to life. When you've finished sharing the story, you can also find out more about the origins of Anansi folktales. This beautiful storybook is one that children will treasure forever.

"The expressive male narrator charms the listener by impersonating the characters...Short segments of music and brief sound effects add interest...useful for all reading and listening situations." - Booklist

"....Jerry Terheyden's narration alternates between the slow pace of a turtle and the bounce of an exuberant spider.... Balloons filing with air and underwater bubbles are among the fitting sound effects." -AudioFile Magazine

The historic Hope lands located on the Liguanea Plain in the southeastern parish of St Andrew, Jamaica, and once the site of one of the island?s earliest sugar estates, has had a long history of human settlements dating back to approximately 600 CE, the era of the indigenous Tainos. It was not until 1655, however, with the English invasion and seizure of Jamaica from the Spanish, that the Hope landscape developed into a thriving rural agrarian settlement. Generous land grants were made to the invading officers and later to immigrants from Britain and North America and from other Caribbean islands. Major Richard Hope came in possession of over 2,600 acres in the Liguanea Plain. Major Hope, unlike many of his counterparts by the 1660s, managed to establish a small sugar plantation, which developed by the mid-1700s into one of the island?s largest, most productive and technologically advanced slave sugar estates. In the 1770s the estate became the property of the Duke of Chandos and his family until 1848, when the estate was dismantled. Over 600 acres were sold to the Kingston and Liguanea Water Works Company and the remaining 1,700 acres were leased to the owner of the adjoining Papine and Mona estates. Poor accounting and border surveillance enabled several persons to possess the land, which was later sanctioned by the Limitations of Actions Law. With the government?s acquisition of the entire property in 1909, the Hope estate underwent remarkable changes in the twentieth century. By 1960 the Hope landscape was radically transformed from a sugar estate worked by hundreds of enslaved black people to a premiere urban centre of commercial, residential and educational land use.

Anansi the Spider's plan to trick his friend Turtle into doing all the work while he teaches Anansi to catch fish somehow gets turned around. While Anansi doesn't learn his lesson, he does learn the invaluable skill of weaving.

When the clever spider Anansi runs into difficulty on his long journey, he calls on his six sons for help.

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: In this trickster tale from Africa, Anansi proves to Elephant and Killer Whale that in a battle of wits, brains definitely outdo brawn.