Anansi and the Talking Melon

Anansi and the Talking Melon

Overview

When Anansi the Spider gets stuck in a melon, he decides to pass his time by doing what he's best at—tricking the other animals around him.
 
When his melon begins talking, Elephant is so impressed he decides to take it to show the king.  But Anansi can't resist the opportunity to make jokes at the expense of everyone they meet. Even the King loses his temper over Anansi's bold remarks—but how will the Spider free himself?
 
Anansi's quick thinking will delight readers who love to watch a master trickster at work, and the bold illustrations of the animals' frustrated faces are sure to make kids laugh. 
 
Based on tales originating in West Africa and familiar in Caribbean culture, the five-book Anansi the Trickster series is full of slapstick humor and mischief. Eric A. Kimmel’s imaginative retellings combined with Janet Stevens’ expressive illustrations create the perfect silly stories for fun-loving kids.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780823411672
Publisher: Holiday House
Publication date: 01/01/1994
Series: Anansi the Trickster Series , #3
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 36
Sales rank: 206,870
Product dimensions: 9.80(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.12(d)
Lexile: 340L (what's this?)
Age Range: 4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Eric A. Kimmel, having loved traditional stories since he was a child, has written, retold, and adapted folktales and legends from around the world. Along with Anansi and the Talking Melon, Kimmel has written four other Anansi titles, including Anansi’s Party Time, which was awarded Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Book of the Year in 2008. Dr. Kimmel lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Doris.
 
Janet Stevens has written and illustrated popular books for over 30 years. Some of her titles include Coyote Steals the Blanket: A Ute Tale and Tops & Bottoms. Her books include New York Times Bestsellers, Time Magazine Best Books of the Year, ALA Notable books, and a Caldecott Honor. She is most proud of her numerous state book awards that were voted on by young readers. She has two children and lives in Boulder, Colorado.

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Anansi and the Talking Melon 4.4 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 7 reviews.
fashionablyloud1 on LibraryThing More than 1 year ago
This is the second of three Anansi stories by this particular author & illustrator! It is quite delightful to read at some point early in the day as it can become interactive! Wonderful & detailed illustrations always create super curious questions! For this particular story we played some African drum music in the background, & "pretended" to be each animal, thus making it a story time event instead of a before bed!
WSRobitaille on LibraryThing More than 1 year ago
This story is the third tale in a series about Anansi the spider. Anansi decides to burrow inside a melon in an elephants melon patch for something to eat. Once inside, he gets so bloated with all the melon he has eaten to be able to leave through the hole he made. To pass his time while the melon digests he decides to trick the animals in the kingdom into thinking the melon can talk. This story was a great example of a trickster tale and the spider is a sassy and amusing character that spends his time insulting everyone. The illustrations are bright and detailed and do a great job supporting the text. I also enjoyed that they used slightly unusual supporting characters, such as the warthog,which makes the typical trickster story more interesting.It won the 1998 Beehive Awards (Utah): Children's Picture Books.
IEliasson on LibraryThing More than 1 year ago
Eric Kimmel¿s comical retelling of West African trickster tale, Anansi and the Talking Melon, is ideal material for story time read alouds. The insolent Anansi entertains himself by tricking all the animals into thinking he is the voice of a talking melon. As each animal has a joke made at their expense, they assemble to present the talking melon to the king monkey. When the melon insults the king with a real humdinger, the melon gets thrown and broken, freeing Anansi to tease again. The illustrations by Janet Stevens add to the humor of the story with outraged expressions of the offended animals. This Anansi tale would be a welcome addition to any Anansi folklore collection
kaitye24 on LibraryThing More than 1 year ago
I loved Anansi and found enjoyment reading this story. Great pictures
Mparis on LibraryThing More than 1 year ago
A delightful tale of a tricky little spider.Anansi the spider really wants to eat some melon. He over stuffs himself and can't get out of the melon until he slims down. In the meantime, he decides it would be fun to trick the animals of Africa to think the melon was able to speak.Classroom connection: African folktales/animals
mrcmyoung on LibraryThing More than 1 year ago
Anansi fools all of the animals on the savanna when he borrows his way into a melon and starts talking to them while he waits to digest his meal. Hilarity ensues. This would be a fun book to act out with the little ones in the library.
Guest More than 1 year ago
This book is wonderfully illustrated and is very fun to read. The moral is clear and easy to understand for my 5 & 3 year old children. This story is very entertaining and gets tons of giggles!