You might remember Berry's book from the African folktales project: Don't Leave an Elephant to Go and Chase a Bird, which is based on an Anansi story from Ghana.
James Berry was one of the most renowned Caribbean-born writers in England. Born in Jamaica in 1924, he emigrated to England in the 1940s, and went on to become a leading figure in the Caribbean Artists Movement. You can read more about his life and career at Wikipedia.
In this book, Berry has retold 20 Anansi stories in his brilliant, inimitable prose style. Here's a list of the titles linked to the Internet Archive: Anancy and Looking for a Wife /
Anancy, Old Witch and King-Daughter /
Anancy and the Making of the Bro Title /
Anancy, Dog and Old Higue Dry-Skull /
Monkey, Tiger and the Magic Trials /
Tiger and Anancy Meet for War /
Anancy and Friend /
Anancy and the Hide-Away Garden /
Tiger and the Stump-a-Foot Celebration Dance /
Mrs. Anancy, Chicken Soup, and Anancy /
Ratbat and Tacooma's Tree /
Bro Tiger Goes Dead /
Anancy Runs into Tiger's Trouble /
Mrs. Dog First-Child and Monkey-Mother /
Anancy and Storm and the Reverend Man-Cow /
Anancy and Dog and Puss and Friendship /
Anancy and Bad News to Cow-Mother /
Mrs. Puss, Dog and Thieves /
Anancy, Tiger, and the Shine-Dancer-Shine /
Anancy, Lion and Tiger's Last Day.
The wonderful illustrations are by British-Nigerian artist Joseph Olubo:
Berry also published this Anansi children's book: First Palm Trees: An Anancy Spiderman Story.
This book has color illustrations by Greg Couch:
Berry is best known as a poet, and you can find many of Berry's other books at the Internet Archive too, including this book of children's poetry: A Nest Full of Stars..... which has illustrations by the late, great Ashley Bryan! You'll recognize his very distinctive style here, and for more about Bryan, see this post from just after his death earlier this month:
So, for Anancy and more by James Berry, the Internet Archive awaits you:
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