Brother Anansi and the Cattle Ranch/El hermano Anansi y el rancho de ganado

by James De Sauza, Harriet Rohmer (Adapted by), Stephen Von Mason (Illustrator)

When Tiger wins the lottery, Anansi convinces him to become his partner and buy a cattle ranch. Small but clever, Anansi outwits the bigger Tiger and ends up with all the cattle. Anansi is a well-known trickster figure found throughout West African and Caribbean folklore. This story combines contemporary elements such as a lottery with the traditional themes of the trickster.

Genres: Spanish Literature

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Bryan Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Anansi tale from Nicaragua features Anansi playing a trick on his good friend Tiger. Of course, that could be said of most Anansi stories. It is written in English and in Spanish, but in either language the words are stilted and dry. For all the color in the illustrations, there is no color in the text. Take a pass on this one and look at Anansi stories closer to their West African roots.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mainly read this kids book because a) I love the myths about Anansi and b) it's written in both English and Spanish and I was trying to practice my Spanish and keep it fresh. It's a cute book, recommended to a bilingual kid or family.

[Shaye Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

We read this book as part of our study of ancient Africa. Anansi is up to trouble again. This story is translated into both English and Spanish on each page.

[Laura Gilfillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture book, for Spanish practice. An Anansi story. English translation.

[kate. · Rating 4 out of 5]

don't judge a book by its cover

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts out with a little history on Anansi:

Brother Anansi, the spider, is a folk hero from the Ashanti people of West Africa. He also lives in the Caribbean, in Central America, and in North America - wherever African-American people tell his stories. Sometimes he is a man; sometimes he is a spider. Sometimes he is good; sometimes he is bad. But he is always very, very tricky.

Since this falls under Central America, this book is written in both English and Spanish.

I was surprised that there didn't seem to be an origin myth related in this story. And there didn't seem to be a cohesive message to the overall story.

Otherwise, it was interesting to see Anansi pull one over on Brother Tiger.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've read a lot of books featuring Anansi tales and found this one at our local library. The story was entertaining, although quite predictable. It didn't have the pizzaz or the wonderful illustrations as the books by Eric A. Kimmel and Janet Stevens. But it was a fun story to read aloud and we enjoyed reading it together.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bilingual in Spanish and English. Bright colors, clear illustrations, although Brother Tiger is depicted as a jaguar due to the Central American setting. Human Anansi is successfully tricky in this one and gets away with stealing all of Brother Tiger's cattle.

[Hira · Rating 5 out of 5]

good to promote persuasive writing

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book to practice my Spanish.

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

What's special about this book is the Caribbean nature of the trickster tale, explained in a prelude of sorts on the first page (a whole page in the back for the rest of the sources of the tale). The Spanish is very readable. Wonder if the students will notice that the tiger is really a jaguar, difference explained in the back of the book.