Africa at the Internet Archive: The Rainmaker's Dog

Today I want to share a really fascinating book that could be very useful to high school and college teachers, especially teachers of English language learners: The Rainmaker's Dog: International Folktales to Build Communicative Skills by Cynthia Dresser.

Dresser developed the book as a textbook for her students in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Zimbabwe, and it contains stories from Africa (6 stories from Central Africa, 8 stories from Western Africa, 4 stories from Eastern Africa, 3 stories from Southern Africa), along with stories from Haiti, Australia, and Asia. Here's how she explains the book's purpose and goals: "The Rainmaker's Dog is a book of transformation and adventure that will take the reader to different parts of the world, using folktales to build vital communication skills. Guided on this journey by characters from the folktales, students will experience the stories and then discuss and write about characters, solutions, new ideas and their own experiences."

The wonderful illustrations and text decorations are by Tom Paisrayi, an artist from Zimbabwe; Kate Lannas, also from Zimbabwe; and Katerine Moir, an artist from Swaziland in South Africa. 

The stories are illustrated:

Plus there are illustrations as writing prompts:

And graphic games, like this maze:

There are also lovely text decorations throughout, like this section page:

It's a really remarkable book, and I hope it will find new audiences and uses by being so easily accessible at the Internet Archive, just a click away. There are also lots of very affordable used copies for under $10 as you can see via BookFinder.com. Highly recommended!

The Rainmaker's Dog:

International Folktales

to Build Communicative Skills

by Cynthia Dresser.