Anasi the Spider: A Tale from Ashanti by Gerald McDermott

Title: Anansi the Spider

Genre: Traditional Literature

Author/ Illustrator: Gerald McDermott

Major Awards: Caldecott Award

Age group: 1st-3rdth

Summary

This is the story of Anansi the spider and his six sons.  Anansi's sons are named, See Trouble, road builder, River Drinker, Game Skinner, Stone Thrower, and last Cushion.  Their names were indicative of their jobs and what they do in life.  One time Anansi traveled so far and fell into trouble.  Thankfully his first born See Trouble alerted the rest of the brothers.  Then road Builder built the road to get there so all six sons traveled it.  Here they saw a huge river which River Drinker fixed promptly.  There was a fish left flopping about and Anansi was inside the fish so Game Skinner freed him.  But just as Game Skinner freed his father a huge falcon swooped Anansi away! Stone Thrower came to save the day and pelted the bird with a stone but Anansi was now free falling from the sky, luckily Cushion was there to catch his father.  All of the seven spiders returned home as a family and Anansi found a big white ball of light.  He wanted to give it to his son, the one that saved him.  Anansi called to Nyame God of all things to hold the white ball of light until he could pick which son to give it to.  All the brothers began arguing over who deserved it so Nyame put the white ball of light in the dark sky and it's still there to this day.

Evaluation

This story provides insight to the Ashanti Culture and what their values are and how the moon originated in their eyes.  The images Gerald McDermott create are simple yet striking and bold and full of color which help readers to pay attention.  I think this book could be used as a tool for students to guess what the lesson was.  since it doesn't come right out and say it. I would not use this book in my classroom because of the age its targeted towards.