Gerald McDermott makes this story extremely exciting and intense at the same time as Anansi is put through all sorts of danger and his sons try everything to rescue him. Gerald McDermott has done a brilliant job at both illustrating and writing this story of Anansi and his sons. “Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti” may have a confusing sentence structure that younger children might not understand, but it is still a great book for people who are fans of Anansi the Spider. “Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti” is a Caldecott Honor Book from master storyteller Gerald McDermott and it is about how Anansi’s six sons try to save Anansi from all kinds of trouble he gets involved in. Luckily some has uploaded the original video (created by the books author, no less) to YouTube. Most children's books from the 1960s on had these, but they rarely survived the transition from analogue to digital. I have also found something I rarely find nowadays: the original animated video that went with this book. He finds a mysteriously large orb of light and he wants to gift it to one of his sons, but which one? After stumbling in to a harrowing conflict while journeying, he is rescued by his sons. Though Anansi is usually the antagonist/trickster mentor in Ashanti folklore, here he is the protagonist in conflict. I would read many books featuring Anansi the Spider, but this book stands out on apart of its spellbinding cover.

He is the Ashanti trickster god (think Loki in Norse mythology and Son-Goku in Chinese folk religion).This is one of those mainstay books of my early school years. Anansi is a figure from Ashanti folk religion. As I was reading the novel Homegoing, there was one character that would periodically be referenced: Anansi.

Anansi the spider by gerald mcdermott