Taletrove’s review:

If you have children who think falling backwards making a strange sound is funny, you are bound to have lots of laughter from this story.

The folktale is that of a cunning spider, Anansi who steals from the animals in the forest by using a magic trick and how the bush deer gives him a taste of his own medicine and retrieves the animals’ goodies. I couldn’t wait to find out how the bush deer planned to teach Anansi a lesson. Awesome ending!

The coloring and illustrations are less bright to my taste. I would have liked for the animals, especially
the lion and elephant to have more ‘visible’ eyes because it makes it hard for me to read their faces without knowing what their eyes have to say. Most illustrations are double spreads.
The animals are ‘wrinkled’ in style, they walk on two legs, fall on their backs, sit on chairs, and carry stuff with their hands-very creatively anthropomorphised.

The repetitive phrase uttered when each animal looks at the moss-covered rock has been handled carefully so as to not be overdone.

Check out the ‘Learning tools’ section for more activities to do with kids using this book.