Thursday, January 23, 2014

A Very Tricky Spider


Have you heard of Anansi the spider? I hadn't until I bought ANANSI AND COMPANY by  my blogger buddy, Bish Denham. Anansi is a tricky little guy. He can be bold, he can be clever, he can even trick a tiger!
ANANSI AND COMPANY is a fun collection of retold Jamaican tales with Anansi as the star. I'm so glad that I met Anansi and read about his clever adventures. Not only is this collection an entertaining read at home, but I can also see this collection being used in classrooms while studying fables or folklore from various countries.

I give ANANSI AND COMPANY 8 out of 8 spider legs! :)
Congratulations to Bish on her fabulous collection! Cute illustrations, too!


About Anansi and Company

How do you escape a hungry tiger? Why do ram-goats smell? What happens if you get too greedy? In this collection of ten retold Jamaican stories, Anansi the spider tricks, sings, and dances his way into and out of trouble. But who is Anansi? It was the Ashanti of West Africa who brought the spider into the Caribbean. He clung tight to the web he wove in the minds of those who had been captured, surviving not only the harrowing passage across the Atlantic Ocean, but hundreds of years of slavery. As a trickster, Anansi has both good and bad traits, which makes him very human. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. When he wins he dances and sings for joy. When he loses, he shakes it off and keeps on living, a lesson for us all.



About the Author
Bish Denham, whose mother's side of the family has been in the Caribbean for over hundred years, was raised in the U. S. Virgin Islands. She still has lots of family living there and visits them regularly. She says, "Growing up in the islands was like living inside a history book. Columbus named them, Sir Francis Drake sailed through the area, and Alexander Hamilton was raised on St. Croix. Pirates plied the waters and hundred of years of slavery left its indelible mark. It was within this atmosphere of magic and wonder that I grew up. My hope is pass some of that magic and wonder on to my readers."

You can learn more about Bish by visiting her blog:
Random Thoughts: http://bish-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/
She can also be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bish-Denham-Author-Page/553261998061448?bookmark_t=page
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BishDenham
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6439315.Bish_Denham