Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock

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

Ages 5-9

You are in for a treat with this story. Eric Kimmel has taken a story that originated in West Africa and brought it to audiences in a funny, thoughtful and energetic way. The story begins when Anansi, a spider, comes upon a moss-covered rock in the forest. He has never seen anything like it before. When he says, "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock!" he immediately faints and wakes up an hour later. When Anansi learns that this rock has the power to cause fainting, Anansi devises a deceitful plan to use it on the other animals so that Anansi can steal their food supplies. He lures each of the animals into the forest, guides them to the rock, waits for them to say, "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock!" and then runs back to their food supplies and steals it all. See, Anansi is too lazy to collect the food himself, so he comes up with a plan to use half the effort to generate double the reward. It isn't until the shy, quiet Little Bush Deer, comes up with a plan to play the same trick on Anansi does he get taught a lesson and all the animals reclaim their food.

This story has the opportunity to use different voices for each of the many characters.

A quick note for anyone looking for this book in your local, public library: you are likely to find it with fairy tales in the non-fiction section than with the other picture books (please consult your librarian for assistance).

Questions to discuss with the readers:
-What are some of the animals that Anansi plays a trick on? What area of the world might Anansi and these animals live in?
-What should they do with that magic moss-covered rock? Hide it? Move it to another forest?
-What do you do when someone steals your food or something that belongs to you?

Programming ideas:
IDEA #1: Game idea -- Place some sheets of coloured construction paper in a circle on the ground (with one sheet of white paper mixed in with the colours). Hand out one card to each child; these cards have different pictures of fruit or animals that were discussed in the book though some cards have a picture of a moss-coloured rock. Have the children walk on the pieces of paper to some music. When the music stops, the child on the piece of white paper has to explain what the picture is on their card. It may be a giraffe or a coconut. If it's a picture of the moss-covered rock, then the children should exclaim, "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock!" and all the children fall down.

IDEA#2: Craft idea -- Make a replica of the animal's house in the forest out of popsicle sticks.