ANANSI AND THE MOSS-COVERED ROCK

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kimmel, Eric A. 1988. ANANSI AND THE MOSS-COVERED ROCK. ill. by Janet Stevens. New York:Holiday House. ISBN:082340689X


PLOT SUMMARY
Anansi is a spider and one day while walking through the forest comes upon a moss covered rock. Anansi is lazy and when he discovers that the rock has magic powers he decides to use its magic powers on some of the other animals in the forest to get all the food that they have worked so hard to gather. What Anansi hasn't realized is that the whole time he has played the same trick over and over on the animals that the deer has been watching in the background.

The deer decides that Anansi needs to learn a lesson so he devises a plan and through his wits outsmarts Anansi by having him say the magic words that knock the utterer of the magic words out for an hour. The deer tells the other animals what Anansi has been doing and they proceed to Anansi's house to retrieve their stolen items. As the story closes the reader learns that Anansi did not learn his lesson and is still trying to this day to get "something for nothing."


CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This is a traditional fantasy that can be catagorized in several areas. As a folktale this tale can be called a cumulative tale because it starts, reaches a certain point, then starts over again and adds a new animal to the mix. The story links a chain of events that finally ends when the spider is slowed down by having his own trick played on him.


ANANSI AND THE MOSS-COVERED ROCK can also be considered a beast tale because the animals in the story have human-like qualities. They think, act, plan, and live as humans do. When it comes to idea of this story being a trickster tale this story fits perfectly into this category because Anansi is trying to outsmart the other animals but ends up getting caught in his own "trap." When reading this book to children they will soon catch on and be able at the appropriate places in the story to repeat the phrase of "isn't this a strange moss-covered rock" that gets the animals knocked out each time it is said.


REVIEW EXCERPT
School Library Journal:"The text is rhythmic, nicely building suspense to the inevitable conclusion. Stevens' complementary, colorful illustrations add detail, humor, and movement to the text."


CONNECTIONS
A few other books that have Anansi the spider as a central character are:
McDermott, Gerald. ANANSI THE SPIDER: A TALE FROM THE ASHANTI. ISBN:0805003118
Aardema, Verna. ANANSI DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE!: AN ASHANTI TALE. ISBN:0689839332
Kimmel, Eric A. ANANSI GOES FISHING. ISBN:0823410226