Spider and His Son Find Wisdom: An Akan Tale (African Tales and Myths)

Author: Melinda Lilly Price: $ 8.50 (new) $ 0.61 (used) Medium: Hardcover (30 pages) Publisher: Rourke Publishing 1998-05

Editorial Description

While trying to gather up all the wisdom he thinks he has wasted on the villagers, Ananse the spider learns something new himself.

Reader Reviews

There is Wisdom and Humor to be Found Here
Told in similar fashion as the Legnds of the World Series, Spider and His Son Find Wisdom is an Akan tale, this is a tale that is from the Asante and Fante peoples of the Akan culture of Ghana, according to the book (which is handy information for young readers to have...it makes discussion of the tale more fun by including the opportunity to find the area on a map). As the tale begins, we are introduced to Ananse, a big headed spider from West Africa. We also learn that he told everyone his head was so big because there in was stored all the nyansa (the wisdom) of the world....and naturally, Ananse offered his wise counsel to everyone in the village. When they don't listen to him, Spider becomes angry and decides that the people are unworthy of his wisdom and that he's collect up all his wisdom, put it in a calabash gourd and hide it from the world in his palm tree. What follows is a humorous accounting of his actions in enlisting his sons help finding a gourd big enough for his fine wisdom, Spider sweeping his knowledge out of his house and the village and his hilarious attempts to get his huge gourd of knowledge up into the tree. In the end, wisdom is set free into the world when he realized that he's not the ONLY one with nyansa and that no one can hoard all the knowledge in the world, so he tips the gourd out of the tree and it breaks open, the wisdom escapes.

Overall, this is a humorous tale from Ghana...the text and the illustrations compliment each other perfectly and the text is simple enough for young readers...meaning this book words as a read aloud or as independent reading for beginner readers! There is a lot of humor here, but also a good lesson and I think it's done in a way that will really engage young readers! Additionally there is a glossary at the back, I recommend you have your young reader read it over before starting the story, so that he or she doesn't have to spend time flipping back to make sure they understand what some of the words mean. I give it five stars, what a fun read and a fine introduction to legends, myths and tall tales from Africa!

The price does seem high for this single volume...we checked this out from the library and would recommned the same or buying used...it's a lovely story that I would recommend in a heart beat, but I can't see my way to paying almost 30.00 for a 30 page book.