Gail E. Haley (1970)
Caldecott Award
The book A Story A Story tells how Ananse acquires all of the Spider Stories. Ananse is a figure in African culture who is said to be the originator of very many fairytales and folklores. If anyone has heard of a Spider Story, it is most likely to have come from this man! This book is interesting in that it tells the story of how he came to acquire these stories, he did not just make them up! This book is very action packed about how Ananse collects three items in order to present to a god that supposedly has all of the stories that he wants. To go along with the story, absolutely beautiful pictures accompany the text on each page! Before the text even begins, the story begins by the first illustration that is on the page before the title page. It is really intriguing and makes the reader excited to begin the story! I really enjoyed this book. One thing that is neat about this book is that it encourages readers to read it out loud. If I did this in my classroom, we would go around the room and take turns reading. The book has a preface that states that African words sound like their meanings in this book, so you might be able to figure out what the word means by pronouncing it! I think this would be interesting and engaging for my students, and they would want to read this book--especially out loud! Literature is not meant to be silent, so this would emphasize and demonstrate that literature can be understood when it is spoken, acted out, sung aloud, etc. I would use this in a 3rd to 4th grade classroom.
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