Anansi and the Talking Melon

Anansi

by Eric A. Kimmel, Janet Stevens (Illustrator)

A spider tricks other animals into thinking a melon can talk.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Africa, Childrens, Humor, Folk Tales, Folklore

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

Eric A. Kimmel is an American author of more than 150 children's books. His works include Caldecott Honor Book Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman), Sydney Taylor Book Award winners The Chanukkah Guest and Gershon's Monster, and Simon and the Bear: A Hanukkah Tale.
Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York and earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from Lafayette College in 1967, a master's degree from New York University, and a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois in 1973. He taught at Indiana University at South Bend, and at Portland State University, where he is Professor Emeritus of Education.
Kimmel lives with his wife, Doris, in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Ronyell]

Now, I have been reading the “Anansi” series ever since I was little and I was always so amazed at the gorgeous artwork and the hilarious writing in each book! So, when I stumbled upon another “Anansi” story that was written by Eric A. Kimmel along with illustrations by Janet Stevens, I was pleasantly surprised by how this story turned out to be as entertaining as the previous “Anansi” stories!

The story starts off with Anansi looking down on Elephant’s melon patch from the trees and he wanted to have a melon. But since Anansi was always too lazy to do any work, he decided to wait until Elephant went off on break to eat a melon. So after Elephant left the melon patch, Anansi took a thorn from a tree and started digging a hole inside the melon to jump inside and eat the melon from the inside out. Once Anansi was done eating inside the melon, he tried to get out from inside the melon, but he become too fat to get out and he had to wait until he got thin again. Elephant then comes back to the melon patch and picks up the melon that Anansi was inside of and Anansi decided to play a little trick on Elephant by pretending to be the melon and successfully convinces Elephant that the melon is really talking. Elephant is so excited about this development that he decided to tell his friends and the king about the talking melon.

Will the King be impressed by the talking melon or will he realize that it is Anansi playing this trick?

Read this book to find out!

Wow! I must admit that I was quite surprised that I have not read this book yet since I have been reading the “Anansi” series ever since I was a child! Eric A. Kimmel has once again done an excellent job at writing this story as the story is highly creative and hilarious at the same time and I really loved the scenes where Anansi tricks the other animals into thinking that the melon is actually talking to them. I like the fact that in this story, Anansi does not actually steal anything like he did in the previous book “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” since it makes him into a less amoral character (although he still did dig inside one of the Elephant’s melons without Elephant’s permission) and the fact that he is just playing tricks on Elephant and the other animals just for the fun of it, makes him less malicious in nature. Janet Stevens’ artwork is as usual gorgeous to look at and I loved the way that Janet Stevens is able to convey the emotions on the characters’ faces, especially whenever the melon seems to insult each animal character and you get to see the animals’ angry expressions really close up.



Overall, “Anansi and the Talking Melon” is a truly hilarious book that is another great addition to Eric A. Kimmel and Janet Stevens’ “Anansi” series! I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Abigail]

Elephant works industriously in his garden while that trickster spider Anansi watches, yearning after the melons he is too lazy to cultivate himself. When Elephant goes inside for a rest, Anansi eats his way into the ripest melon, but gorges so much that he is too fat to get out again. Convincing Elephant that his voice is that of the melon, that the melon can in fact talk, the trickster is carried along to the king, with a growing procession of animals accompanying him on his journey. When his sarcasm earns the king's ire, the melon is smashed and Anansi released...

Anansi and the Talking Melon is the second picture-book about this famous West African trickster figure that I have read from author Eric A. Kimmel and illustrator Janet Stevens, following upon their Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock . It pairs an amusing cumulative tale with expressive artwork that perfectly captures the humor of the story. The ending here, in which Elephant vows never to listen to talking melons again, only for Anansi, hidden inside a banana he is eating, to commend his choice, had me laughing out loud. It was such a pleasant and amusing ending to the story that I raised my rating from three to four stars. My only criticism of the book, and it is the same I made for Kimmel and Stevens' earlier book, is that no source material is given for this retelling, something I really look for in folkloric works. Recommended to Anansi fans, and to folklore lovers in general.

[Laura]

Genre- Children's books- Traditional literature
This fun story is about a spider, Anansi, that makes a whole in one of Elephant's melons then cannot get out because he was too big to fit back through the small whole. He decides to have a little fun with this situation and makes the animals think that this melon could talk.
A. The area of comment- size
B. The size of this book is very appropriate for this story and illustrations. I think Stevens did an awesome job with illustration and picking the right size paper for the book. If this book was smaller the reader may not be able to feel as connected with the book, and if it was bigger it may be too much and overwhelming.
C. The cover of the story and pages 3-4 are great examples to portray the necessity of having this size paper to connect to young readers. These pictures consist of Elephant holding a huge orange melon with Anansi, the spider, on top of it. There is a little grass showing at the bottom, but nothing else to distract the reader from the main characters of the story.
This is a fun book to read to young kids because it's silly and eay to read with great illustrations to show them as you read. You could connect this story to writing, reading, science, and art.

[Sabrina Henry]

This book is just outrageously humorous! It is a great book to use for picture stories for children. This book is about an elephant who planted a garden and an Anansi that ate out the things he planted while he is away. The Anansi tricked him in believing that the melons and bananas could talk. The storyline is somewhat unpredictable and could be used to encourage children to make their own predictions.

I liked this book, brought much laughter to my day while reading it. The illustrations are also really funny and attractive.

[Dolly]

This is a fun tale about Anansi. Sometimes he is foolish, sometimes he is clever, but he's almost always lazy. In this story, this trickster convinces a bunch of animals that a melon can talk. We enjoyed this story, especially since we listened to the CD narrated by Jerry Terheyden as we followed along with the book. I love the voice he uses for Anansi! And the illustrations by Janet Stevens are terrific, too.

[Kerri]

Anansi is a trouble-making jerk when you think about it, but the book is funny and simple and the illustrations are amazing.

[Shiloah]

Super fun! We read to a crowd tonight. Our kids plus another family enjoyed this book. Anansi is quite a wise and cunning spider. We’ve enjoyed reading of his antics in the melon!

[Jenny]

Anansi is up to his usual tricks. This time he convinces several animals that a melon can talk.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez]

Julia and I listened to this while following along with the book in print and audio books are still pretty new to us.
I wasn't thrilled with the voice used for Anansi but I think that's just me. I tend to be a bit of a bore when I'm reading to Julia and have to do another voice. (Maybe why she seems to like audio books so much!)
We both liked the story well enough, definitely enough to check out any other Anansi books or maybe something different from Kimmel. The illustrations here are great - just perfect.
For a story that has a few of the same parts said a few times by different characters Kimmel handled the repetitiveness very well. Usually both of us get very tired of this sort of thing - and fast - but Kimmel managed it perfectly and it didn't feel tedious in the least.

[Rachel]

I loved the story about the trickster Anansi who decides to eat Elephants prized melon but gets stuck inside so he pretends he's a talking melon. Elephant is so impressed that he wants to take it to the king, who gets so furious with the insulting melon that he kicks it back to Elephant's house where Anansi is able to escape--wait for it...into a bunch of bananas which start talking. Loved the illustrations too.

[Leigh]

I like all the Anansi books but this one is cute and the ending is laugh out loud funny. A bit of trivia: Anasi is an African trickster. When slaves were brought over to America, they brought "Anasi" with them and the character was altered into "Aunt Nancy." There are several Aunt Nancy stories and they too, are very good.

[Ch_kendrachristo]

Anansi's appetite gets him in trouble again! The little spider watches as Elephant hoes his melon patch. Thinking of how tasty those melons must be, Anansi waits for Elephant to take a nap. He then tunnels his way inside a melon. The greedy spider overeats and gets stuck inside. Read to find out if Anansi is able to free himself or if he is destined to live the rest of his life in a melon.

[Kathy]

Great Anansi story! Love the humor and tricks of Anansi.

[Ellen Brandt]

One of my favorite trickster tales. Works well with a range of ages

[Bethe]

2nd favorite Anansi tale, only objection is the use of the word stupid, opportunity to explain to my students that, unlike in Spanish, it's not a curse word, just a not nice word.

[Michelle]

They love this and find it hilarious.

[♥♣Mary♦♠ If She So Pleases]

A nice story time read.

[Ashton Miller]

Title: Anansi and the Talking Melon

Author: Eric A. Kimmel

Illustrator: Eric A. Kimmel, Janet Stevens

Genre: Non-European Folktale

Theme: Trickery, humor

Opening Line/Sentence: One fine morning Anansi the Spider sat high up in a thorn tree looking down into Elephant’s garden.

Brief Book Summary: Anansi the Spider starts eating one of Elephant’s melons and gets stuck inside. Anansi decides to trick Elephant and make him believe the melon talks. Elephant takes the melon to the king and shows other animals the talking melon along the way, although once he gets to the king, his plan backfires.

Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
http://www.clcd.com.ezaccess.librarie...
Jan Lieberman (Children's Literature)
When Anansi, the trickster, bores a hole into one of Elephant's juicy melons, he eats so much that he can't get out. To avoid Elephant's wrath, Anansi begins talking from inside the melon. Convinced he has a valuable find, Elephant, followed by a host of other animals, takes the melon to the Gorilla King. Anansi plays his part to the hilt. The vivid colors make those melons irresistible. Elephant discovers that talking melons are nothing but trouble!

Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
http://www.clcd.com.ezaccess.librarie...
Lesego Malepe (Africa Access Review)
In this picture book story, Anansi the spider talks inside the melon and fools Elephant into thinking the melon is talking. Elephant is excited and shares the miracle with everybody. He takes the melon to show the king but there the melon does not talk. The king in anger hurls it, and it rolls to Elephant's house where it hits a thorn tree and breaks into pieces. Elephant reprimands the melons for getting him into trouble with the king and vows never to listen to them again. Anansi climbs a banana tree and settles on a bunch. Now the bananas are talking, "We bananas should have warned you. Talking melons are nothing but trouble." This is a funny entertaining story for children. The pictures are bold, bright and attractive.

Response to Two Professional Reviews: I agree with both of these reviews because the story was very entertaining and it kept me in suspense – would Elephant figure out Anansi was in the melon? The pictures are bright and attractive and complement the story well. Overall, the book was intriguing and kept my attention and I think children would really enjoy it.

Evaluation of Literary Elements: In the beginning of the story, Elephant is hoeing his melon patch and he’s on horizontal ground. Everything seems calm since Anansi hasn’t caused any trouble yet. At the end, Anansi is above Elephant in the banana tree and Elephant is on the ground. Elephant never found out Anansi was the “talking melon” and now Anansi has him thinking bananas can talk too. Anansi has the power of knowledge, while Elephant has no idea what happened. When the gorilla king throws the melon, the melon is diagonal, implying motion.

Consideration of Instructional Application: For a minilesson, I could discuss figurative language, since the story has examples of similes and personification in it. After the read aloud, I would talk about the different animals in the story, such as elephants, hippos, and warthogs and have my students pick one of the animals to write about and research. I could connect this book to geography by talking about Africa, since this folktale came from Africa and also the history behind this folktale.

[Tess Upchurch]

I grew up reading the Anansi story and recently rediscovered the books while working on a class project. In this particular book Anansi convinces a farmer elephant that one of the melons he has grown can talk. The elephant takes off to show this miracle to the king and develops quite a following along the way.

This book was really fun to read. The plot was unique, and the characters were interesting. I found myself excited to learn how each new animal would react to the talking melon. I kept waiting for one of them to be unconvinced. I also thought the interaction between the melon and the king was interesting, the tension that formed when Anansi refused to speak kept me on the edge of my seat. I thought the humorous tone was done very well and I thought the cliff hanger at the end was done perfectly. This is something I would love to have in my future classroom. The bright colors and humor make it a great choice for a read aloud. I would recommend this tale to students who enjoy humor, animals, or practical jokes.

[Rose Rosetree]

As often happens, with this picture book... The glory is in the details.

Anansi the Spider tricks other animals into thinking a melon can talk. Sound cute?

It took skill to develop this traditional tale into an entertaining picture book. As you may know, Anansi is one of the legendary tricksters in Native American wisdom tales.

PERSONALLY

I don't like tricksters, not in fiction and not in life.

I prefer people with integrity, people who aim to make the world a better place. In keeping with these values, I don't find lying clever.

Just me, okay.

RATING THIS BOOK, THOUGH

My policy is to rate books in terms of the intended audience. Here that would mean readers who relish stories like this one. Maybe they find it not only clever but funny.

On their behalf, then, I'll give this book FIVE STARS.

But would I give this book to any friend of mine? Hardly!

Still, as all of us know, it takes all kinds to make a world of Goodreaders.

[Diana]

Oh, this one was fun. Selected as part of our unit on melons, this one had less to do with melons than it did about Anansi, but it worked very well, anyway. The kids thought it was hilarious the way Anansi insulted the animals (and had great fun making up insults for the animals the other animals they met on the way...), and they enjoyed predicting how the book would end. The illustrations were good and the story well written and paced. My favorite element was being able to discuss how Anansi shows up in tradition literature, but that was less exciting to the kiddos than dealing with a talking spider...who, they pointed out to me, would only get thin again if he pooped a lot inside the melon. Oh, the joy of boys! Highly recommended.

[Michelle Vaughn]

Our first Anansi book, the one that started Mads (age 7) on an Anansi love affair (which has resulted not just in a love of trickster stories but also a new found love of spiders). As the one doing the bulk of the reading aloud, I appreciate that Eric Kimmel keeps the repetition to a minimum--we get the point, but it’s not beaten over our numbed heads and tongues. I also appreciate the opportunity to imagine and invent Anansi’s insults for the other animals featured in these pages--if a talking melon is as ridiculous as a skinny hippo or a handsome warthog, what insult could Anansi possibly have given to an ostrich or rhinoceros?

[Aimee Fuhrman]

Anansi--a conniving spider--is a well-known character in West African and Caribbean folklore. In this tale, Anansi overeats and finds himself stuck inside a melon. Hoping to free himself and have a little mischievous fun along the way, Anansi convinces the other animals the melon is speaking. When the king gorilla finally loses his temper and throws the melon, Anansi is freed from his 'prison.' But the other animals are none the wiser, which suits Anansi just fine, as he's ready for another prank.

[Amanda]

I like these books, the only reason I gave it a 4 star rating is that they say the word "stupid" in it. I have noticed that about all 3 of the books I have read from this author. I don't like that word. I tell my son not to say that word and then seeing it in a children's book makes me cringe. I just change the word when I am reading aloud. Otherwise the books are cute and keep my son's attention. He was laughing several times.

[Jenny]

This retold story of Anansi is so humorous and cleaver. It follows the same pattern of the traditional African tale in that Anansi tricks others. However, the trick he plays is very different from the "original" version. There is also a repeated pattern in the way the story was written, which can be catchy to students. The illustrations are also very engaging and support readers with comprehension. It is a great, fun version of Anansi!

[Samantha]

A great book! There are plenty of books based on "Anansi", and I think this is by far the best one! The book really shows "Anansi" as a character can be. From the beginning, it shows how Anansi gets himself into certain situations with his sneaky ideas. It was brilliant of him to pretend to be a talking melon in order to avoid getting into trouble with Elephant. He definitely found a way to make time fly by having a bit of fun!

[Emily]

This was another good book by this author about a spider who likes to play tricks on people. The spider does not see that he is hurting the other animals feelings or that he is getting the other animals in trouble. As children read this they should know that it is not nice to do that and hopefully this book helps to teach them.

[Savannah Webster]

My kids loved Anansi the Spider so we found some more stories that feature this trickster. Anansi and the talking melon is a pretty funny tale. Anansi eats his way through a melon but eats so much he gets stuck! His situation ends up being his fun when he tricks the animals into thinking the melon is talking. The rude trickster ends up being released but his fun doesn't stop there!

[Jaden]

Picture Book

Anansi the Spider tricked an elephant along with many other animals that a melon could talk. He snuck into Elephants melon and ate a whole bunch of it, but was too fat to crawl back through the hole he made. When the animals went to bring it to the king, he was offended and through the melon all the way back to Elephants house where the spider then started eating the bananas.

[Sheri]

Anansi the spider and his love for melons leads him to climb inside. But an elephant takes the melon home. The elephant and hippo think they have something special to show the king. A 'sky is falling' story reworked. And Anansi the spider, teases the elephant from another fuit and the story ends. A fun story for children to listen and the illustrations are fun.