ANANSI AND THE TALKING MELON retold by Eric A. Kimmel book review

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kimmel, Eric A., Trans.  1994.  ANANSI AND THE TALKING MELON.  Ill. by Janet Stevens.  New York:  Holiday House. ISBN  0823411044

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

ANANSI AND THE TALKING MELON is a retelling of a West African folktale. This tale begins with Anansi the Spider sitting in a thorn tree that overlooks Elephant’s melon patch. Being too lazy to grow his own melons, Anansi decides to enjoy Elephant’s hard work. When the moment was right, Anansi snuck down to the melon patch and created a hole in one of the melons using a thorn from the tree. Crawling inside and eating until he was full, Anansi discovered a problem when he realized he was too fat to crawl back out of the hole. Deciding he was too bored to sit and do nothing until he was thin again, Anansi decided to play a trick on Elephant by making him think the melon was talking. Surprised that melons can talk, Elephant sets out to take his prize talking melon to the king. Along the way, Elephant shows the melon to his friends Hippo, Warthog, Ostrich, Rhino and Turtle, each of whom only believed Elephant after the melon directly insulted them. After the king is also insulted by this melon, he throws it as far as he could, all the way back to Elephant’s garden. Lucky for Anansi, the melon splits open and he is freed, all the while laughing at the animals for believing a melon could talk.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

ANANSI AND THE TALKING MELON is a soundboard for storytelling. The characters in this story represent the good and evil stereotypes of traditional tales. Anansi is selfish and wicked, taking pleasure at the cost of others. The innocence of the other animals is shown through their ignorance of believing in a talking melon. Sticking with the style of traditional tales, trickery plays a big part in this story. Children of all ages will look forward to the tricks and insults of Anasi from inside the melon. Janet Stevens innocent portrayal of the animals in her illustrations, helps the reader feel just as determined to get to the king as they are. The use of bright colors and the details such as the wrinkles on Elephant’s skin and the hair on Warthogs back, bring the animals to life.  

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL review: “The snappy narration is well suited for individual reading or group sharing. The colorful line-and-wash illustrations are filled with movement and playful energy.”

BOOKLIST: “With perfect pacing and repetition and with surprising reversals up to the very last page, this is a great choice for reading aloud and storytelling.”

5. CONNECTIONS

*Using a combination of the main animals from the story and two to three narrators, children could participate in a reader’s theater event. If needed, small masks could be made for the various animals roles.

*After hearing the story read aloud, students could participate in various sequencing activities. The teacher could assign animal roles to students who have to retell and sequence the story by acting it out. For younger children, the teacher could have animal picture cards for the students to sequence according to the order introduced in the story. Older children could actually create a “chain of events” graphic organizer to show their understanding of sequential order.

*Other Anansi books retold by Eric Kimmel:

ANANSI AND THE MOSS-COVERED ROCK. ISBN 0823407985

ANANSI AND THE MAGIC STICK. ISBN 0823417638

ANANSI GOES FISHING. ISBN 0823410226