A Story A Story: An African Tale (Adaptation)
Illustrator:
Gail E. Haley
Gail E. Haley
Publication:
1970 by Atheneum
Genre:
Fiction, Folk Tales, Picture Books
Pages:
32
Current state:
This book has been evaluated and information added. It has been read but content considerations may not be complete.
Book Guide
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Many African stories, whether or not they are about Kwaku Ananse the "spider man", are called "Spider Stories". This book is about how that came to be.
The African storyteller begins: "We do not really mean, we do not really mean that what we are about to say is true. A Story, a story; let it come, let it go."
And it tells that long, long ago there were no stories on earth for children to hear. All stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy some of these stories, so he spun a web up to the sky and went up to bargain with the Sky God. The price the Sky God asked was Osebo, the leopard of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmboro the hornet who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see.
How Ananse paid the price is told in a graceful and clever text, with forceful, lovely woodcut illustrations.
From the dust jacket
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Reviews
‘A Story, A Story’: Thinking Through African Mythology
Reviewed by Emily
Of course, right away both my kids and I could feel how different it was. The illustrations are not cutesy or cuddly in any way; the main character is an old man, with dark brown skin, silky white whiskers and wearing what my kids would call “pretty pink panties” (which was one of the high points for them)...
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