African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Anansi the Spider Man

Since I finished up with Philip Sherlock last week, I wanted to start this week with his Anansi books! Here's the main one: Anansi the Spider Man.

The illustrations here are by Marcia Brown. Artists always have a hard choice with "tiger" in African (where tiger refers to a panther) and African Diaspora stories, especially in places like Jamaica that are without big cats. So, she drew Tiger as a tiger; here's Tiger and Sis Duck:

Here is a list of the stories you will find in that book: From Tiger to Anansi / Brother Breeze and the Pear Tree / Anansi and the Old Hag / Anansi and Turtle and Pigeon / Kisander / The Kling Kling Bird / Bandalee / Yung-Kyung-Pyung / Anansi and the Plantains / Anansi and Fish Country / Ticky-Picky Boom-Boom / Anansi and the Alligator Eggs / Anansi and the Crabs / The Quarrel.

Plus, there is also this smaller collection: The Illustrated Anansi.

This book has lots of colorful illustrations by Petrina Wright; here you can see Alligator and Anansi (who is imagined as more person than spider):

These are the stories you will find: From Tiger to Anansi / Anansi and Turtle and Pigeon / The Quarrel / Anansi and the Crabs.

Sherlock's work was an important source for my collection of "tiny tales" about Anansi from Caribbean sources: Tiny Tales of Anansi (the stories are just 100 words each!).

You can also get that book as an epub or PDF, or even listen to me reading the stories, here: Anansi.LauraGibbs.net.

There can never be too many Anansi stories IMO! Enjoy!

Anansi the Spider Man

by Philip Sherlock

The Illustrated Anansi

by Philip Sherlock

Tiny Tales of Anansi

by Laura Gibbs

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Philip Sherlock

Earlier this week I mentioned Philip Sherlock's West Indian Folktales, so I wanted to return to him today and share some two of his books here:

The Iguana's Tail:

Crick Crack Stories From the Caribbean

Ears and Tails and Common Sense:

More Stories From the Caribbean

Here are links to the stories in these two books:

Iguana's Tail: The Meeting / Green Parrot's Story / Little Capuchin Monkey's Story / Brown Owl's Story / Chimpanzee's Story / Firefly's Story / Armadillo's Story 

It has illustrations by Gioia Fiammenghi:

Ears and Tails: Brown Owl Plans a Party / Riddles One, Two, Three / Ears and Tails and Common Sense / Big for Me, Little for You / Forty Men I See, Forty Men I Do Not See / Riddle Me Riddle, Riddle Me Ree / Horns for a Rabbit / Lizard and a Ring of Gold / The Grass-Cutting Races 

This book has illustrations by Aliki (Brandenburg):

Philip Sherlock, born in Jamaica in 1902, was an important educator and writer; you can find out more about him here: Philip Manderson Sherlock. He also collected some Anansi stories, so I'll share those next time too! 

The Iguana's Tail:

Crick Crack Stories From the Caribbean

by Philip Sherlock

Ears and Tails and Common Sense:

More Stories From the Caribbean

by Philip Sherlock

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Twins and the Bird of Darkness

In yesterday's blog post, I wrote about the collaboration between Brian Pinkney and Robert San Souci, and I wanted to say something more about San Souci today, looking at another book that, like his Cendrillon, is inspired by a Caribbean folktale: The Twins and the Bird of Darkness: A Hero Tale from the Caribbean.

The lovely illustrations are by Terry Widener. Here is the monstrous bird that the hero must defeat; if you look closely, you can see the hero and also the princess imprisoned in the tree where the bird lives, casting darkness over the land with his huge wings:

As San Souci explains in the note to the story, he was inspired by version sof this story collected by Elsie Clews Parsons on the island of Guadeloupe which she labeled as "Twin Brothers: Seven Tongues" and also "The Beast That Keeps the Country Dark." Click on the image to read more; Parsons provides this type of comparative bibliography for all the story types; it's so useful! You can see both African and European and other parallel versions listed there, along with additional Caribbean versions:

San Souci also borrowed from Philip Sherlock's West Indian Folktales, which is also available at the Internet Archive! Philip Sherlock was an important educator and writer from the Caribbean; I'll have more to say about him in future posts!

The world of Caribbean storytelling is a wonderful place to explore, and I'll have more Caribbean story books to share in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, enjoy!

The Twins and the Bird of Darkness:

A Hero Tale from the Caribbean

by Robert San Souci

West Indian Folktales

by Philip Sherlock