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Anansi and the Box of Stories: A West African Folktale
Long ago in Africa, the sky god Nyame keeps all of the stories to himself, but when Anansi the spider asks their price, Nyame agrees to trade his stories if Anansi can perform four seemingly impossible tasks.
48 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 25, 2019
Part of the On My Own Folklore series, in which folktales are presented in simplified text for beginning readers, Anansi and the Box of Stories features West Africa's iconic trickster hero.
Although commonly depicted as a spider, Anansi is seen in his human form in this tale, in which he must capture four very dangerous and elusive creatures in order to convince Nyame the Sky God to share his stories with the world.
I found Krensky's narrative engaging, and appreciated the role played by Anansi's clever wife Aso. With a brief author's note, and suggestions for further reading, this title will both entertain and educate young readers, allowing them a brief glimpse into another culture.
Although commonly depicted as a spider, Anansi is seen in his human form in this tale, in which he must capture four very dangerous and elusive creatures in order to convince Nyame the Sky God to share his stories with the world.
I found Krensky's narrative engaging, and appreciated the role played by Anansi's clever wife Aso. With a brief author's note, and suggestions for further reading, this title will both entertain and educate young readers, allowing them a brief glimpse into another culture.
July 13, 2012
This is an entertaining fictional story about Anansi the spider-man. He is known to be a bit of a practical joker and he does not know when to stop.
One day Anansi decides to adventure through the skies and that’s where he meets Nyame the sky god. Nyame has a wooden box which has never been opened. Anansi is curious to discover what is inside this box. The story describes Anansi’s humorous and exciting journey as he aims to find out.
I enjoyed this story very much and I loved how the author illustrated the personalities of each character in the story. It really brought the characters to life.
Due to the variety of vocabulary used in the story I would recommend this story for the children in years 5 or 6 of primary education. This book can be used as a teaching resource in a lesson where children have to describe the personality of a character from the actions of the character in the story.
One day Anansi decides to adventure through the skies and that’s where he meets Nyame the sky god. Nyame has a wooden box which has never been opened. Anansi is curious to discover what is inside this box. The story describes Anansi’s humorous and exciting journey as he aims to find out.
I enjoyed this story very much and I loved how the author illustrated the personalities of each character in the story. It really brought the characters to life.
Due to the variety of vocabulary used in the story I would recommend this story for the children in years 5 or 6 of primary education. This book can be used as a teaching resource in a lesson where children have to describe the personality of a character from the actions of the character in the story.
November 19, 2019
Anansi and the Box of Stories: A West African Folktale
By Stephen Krensky
Reading level: 2
Book level: 2
Summary: The spider Anansi wishes to share the stories that the sky god Nyame is hording. Nyame agrees to give Anansi the stories n exchange for completing a series of tests. Though Anansi may not be strong, he is clever enough to triumph, especially with the help provided by his wife, Aso.
Genre: Multicultural Lit.
Mentor Writing Traits:
Organization: This book serves as an excellent introduction to organization in writing and how it impacts the enjoyment of the story by the reader. The story is very quick in setting up its structure of the story, informing the reader of the situation of the stories being held by Nyame and the requirements for Anansi getting them. This structure aids the reader in being able to follow along and enjoy the myiad of ways that Anansi is able to triumph over the challenges before him. as a side note, this story is an excellent way to introduce students to the idea of "the trickster" in folktales, a type of character that appears in stories from around the world that uses cunning to defeat those it is up against, at least most of the time.
Sentence Fluency: This story also demonstrates the idea of sentence fluidity, as most folktales do. Students can learn all about the oral tradition of storytelling and how the tales were often designed based on how they sounded versus how they would be read. In fact, some folk tales came from a time before writing even existed and storytellers were expected to remember them. Students could be taken on a journey of other folktales from around the world of from a time long ago as the teacher reads different folktales each day as students listen to them and compare them.
By Stephen Krensky
Reading level: 2
Book level: 2
Summary: The spider Anansi wishes to share the stories that the sky god Nyame is hording. Nyame agrees to give Anansi the stories n exchange for completing a series of tests. Though Anansi may not be strong, he is clever enough to triumph, especially with the help provided by his wife, Aso.
Genre: Multicultural Lit.
Mentor Writing Traits:
Organization: This book serves as an excellent introduction to organization in writing and how it impacts the enjoyment of the story by the reader. The story is very quick in setting up its structure of the story, informing the reader of the situation of the stories being held by Nyame and the requirements for Anansi getting them. This structure aids the reader in being able to follow along and enjoy the myiad of ways that Anansi is able to triumph over the challenges before him. as a side note, this story is an excellent way to introduce students to the idea of "the trickster" in folktales, a type of character that appears in stories from around the world that uses cunning to defeat those it is up against, at least most of the time.
Sentence Fluency: This story also demonstrates the idea of sentence fluidity, as most folktales do. Students can learn all about the oral tradition of storytelling and how the tales were often designed based on how they sounded versus how they would be read. In fact, some folk tales came from a time before writing even existed and storytellers were expected to remember them. Students could be taken on a journey of other folktales from around the world of from a time long ago as the teacher reads different folktales each day as students listen to them and compare them.
October 26, 2017
Anansi And The Box Of Stories
October 13, 2019
Pretty nice story
May 19, 2020
A fascinating folktale that the whole family enjoyed. As a read aloud, we weren't sure about the pronunciation of some of the African words, but the story was universally entertaining.
July 24, 2021
Excellent ESL teaching resource.
August 25, 2016
A wonderful rendition of this classic Ashanti folktale! The illustrations are gorgeous and imaginative, evocative of the best picture book illustrations. My favorite character, without a doubt is Aso, wife of Anansi. I do wish we'd seen more of her in the illustrations. But her presence in the narrative was unmistakably palpable, so that's what matters most.
May 6, 2011
"I like how it's like bugs bunny because he got stuck on the little person too; a really sticky little person. And I like how Osebo the leopard got stuck inside of a hole just like bugs bunny did. That's really funny." So says my son in his first book review.
November 15, 2016
Great book for anyone interested in learning the folklore of Anansi the Spider. This book gives good information on the origin and the main tale of how Anansi got his stories. Interesting thing about this book is that it portrays Anansi as a human instead of an actual spider.
January 14, 2012
Perfect for our collection of Anansi stories for the 2nd grade unit. PK
January 1, 2013
Really beautiful illustrations. I haven't hear this one before, except at the end, where there is a a verson of the tar baby story.
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February 13, 2019Fun, easy read of an African folktale.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews