Customer Reviews

Anansi, the Spider Man

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Anansi the Spider Man is a 1954 collection of folk tales by Philip M. Sherlock, who gathered them in Jamaica. They all feature the spider Anansi, a trickster of West African and West Indian folklore, and his dealings with the other animals.

Not surprisingly, then, every story features somebody trying to trick somebody else. Since Anansi gets conned nearly as much as he gets over on others, the reader never gets too fed up with him, and, on the whole, these stories are rather charming.

Marcia Brown provides the illustrations, which are simple pen-and-ink affairs. They're a little bit rough, and are reminiscent of Jules Feiffer's work on The Phantom Tollbooth.

On the whole, Anansi the Spider Man is a solid and entertaining collection of folktales.

Anansi the Spider Man is a 1954 collection of folk tales by Philip M. Sherlock, who gathered them in Jamaica. They all feature the spider Anansi, a trickster of West African and West Indian folklore, and his dealings with the other animals.

Not surprisingly, then, every story features somebody trying to trick somebody else. Since Anansi gets conned nearly as much as he gets over on others, the reader never gets too fed up with him, and, on the whole, these stories are rather charming.

Marcia Brown provides the illustrations, which are simple pen-and-ink affairs. They're a little bit rough, and are reminiscent of Jules Feiffer's work on The Phantom Tollbooth.

On the whole, Anansi the Spider Man is a solid and entertaining collection of folktales.

I was very disappointed upon receiving the last order of books about Anansi the Spider Man. I realize they were used books but they were rated the highest rating by Amazon, and I have not been disappointed before. The books were in terrible condition and what made it worse was the writing in them. My students were surprised I presented them books with writing in them.

This is an original 1954 edition of the Caribbean "Anansi" folk tales collected by Philip Sherlock and illustrated by Marcia Brown. These are the stories that we read in school, and which I read to my children. Philip Sherlock's version of the tales of the trickster "spider man", Anansi, are timeless and entertaining, and can be enjoyed by kids from two to 92.