Folklore: "A Story, A Story"

                The folklore book I chose is called A Story, A Story written and illustrated by Gail E. Haley. This is an African story, retold, about the origin of “Spider Stories” in African folklore. The Sky God had all of the children’s stories and nobody could tell any stories because the Sky God had them all. The “spider man”, Ananse, spun a web up to the Sky God and asked him if he can have his stories. The Sky God says if he gets a list of things for him then he can have the stories. Ananse gets all of the items and then all of the stories becomes his. From now on, all of the African stories are called Spider Stories.
              Following the folklore evaluation, this story meets all of the criteria. This story seems to accurately retell the story of Spider Stories in African folklore. There are some phrases that are repeated for rhythm and for meaning. The beginning of the book explains that the phrases or words are repeated in African culture to show emphasis and so the book follows this format. The beautiful illustrations add another layer to the text and supports the story.
              This story has the element of self love and respect. Ananse follows the Sky God’s requests and does not disobey him, this shows respect for him. In return, the Sky God honor’s the deal and rewards Ananse with the stories. This shows mutual respect for each other because neither of them tried to cheat the other one. Also, this story spreads awareness about African folklore tales and the origin of Spider Stories. Many African stories are called Spider Stories and this tells the story of how it all began.
             This book would be great to use in the classroom to show students folklore tales from another culture. Students can compare this story to a classic folklore story from America and see how they compare. They can look at the main characters and plot, as well as the format and see if this African tale and American tales follow a similar format/rhythm or not. Students can also practice writing and drawing their own folklore stories that they have heard growing up following this format.