Traditional Literature: Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock

 

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock
Retold by Eric Kimmel and Illustrated by Janet Stevens

Kimmel, Eric A., and Janet Stevens. Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock. New York City, NY: Holiday House, 1988. 9780823406890

Plot Summary

Anansi the Spider was walking, walking, walking through the forest one day when he noticed a strange moss-covered rock. Each time that he says "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock." he falls down senseless and wakes an hour later with his head spinning. When he realizes what is happening, he decides to play a trick on the other animals in the forest. He tricks Lion, Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Giraffe, and Zebra, stealing all of their food. Little Bush Deer watches Anansi trick all of the animals in the forest, and so he hatches a plan to trick Anansi and steal back all of the animals' food. His plan works, but Anansi never learns his lesson, and continues to play tricks.

Analysis

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock is a trickster folktale of West African origin. Eric Kimmel retells the story in a way that allows readers to take a guess at predicting how the story will go next. He repeats certain lines such as "KPOW! Down fell __" and follows a pattern when detailing how Anansi asks each animal if they would like to go for a walk. When he does this, it allows him to skip ahead to the section of the story when Little Bush Deer tricks Anansi. He avoids having to repeat himself with Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Giraffe, and Zebra, because readers can fill in those gaps for themselves, based on the context clues of how Anansi tricked Lion and Elephant.

Janet Stevens provides very colorful and detailed illustrations that highlight each of the animals expressions whether happy, sad, or mischievous. When Anansi is visiting each of the animals, Little Bush Deer can be seen in the background, hiding among the bushes and watching Anansi perform his tricks. When performing this story during a story time, it might be a fun activity to see if the children can spot Little Bush Deer as the story goes on.

Betsy Hearne, writing for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books in 1988, wrote "[This book] combines Stevens' knack for drawing funny animals with Kimmel's sense of rhythmic storytelling. . . . Stevens has cleverly avoided cartooning the spider's face and opted instead for emphasizing his very expressive set of eight black legs. The stylized exaggeration of words and pictures is just wry enough to avoid cuteness and maintain the mischief of a true trickster tale."

Hearne, Betsy. 1988. “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock (Book Review) (Undetermined).” Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 42 (October): 42. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.twu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=511824303&site=ehost-live.

Awards

While this book has not received any awards, Eric Kimmel and Janet Stevens are both a decorated author and illustrator who have won awards such as the National Jewish Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, the National Jewish Book Award for Best Illustrated Children's Books, the Caldecott Medal, Time Magazine's Ten Best Children's Books, many state book awards, and the Texas Bluebonnet Award respectively.

Connections

This story would be excellent for a reader's theater event where readers would be encouraged to act out the story as it progressed. Children could KPOW, lie down on the ground with each animal or walk, walk, walk around the reading area with Anansi and the animal sin the forest. Props like plastic fruit would also be a fun addition. 

Other books that involve a silly trickster:

McDermott, Gerald: Jabutí the Tortoise: A Trickster Tale from the Amazon. 9780152053741

Shepard, Aaron: The Adventures of Mouse Deer: Favorite Tales of Southeast Asia. 9781620355251

Galdone, Paul: The Monkey and the Crocodile: A Jataka Tale from India. 9780899195247