West African tales. One of the stories explains how the stories of West Africa became about Anansi (or Ananse), sometimes as a spider and sometimes as a person. It is a really good complement when talking about Ancient West Africa. ( )

Adwoa Badoe, who trained as a physician in her native Ghana, has turned her attention to music and storytelling since moving to Canada - something for which readers can be very thankful! This collection of ten Ananse stories, as told to Badoe when she was a child, is immensely entertaining, featuring selections both familiar and strange. The accompanying illustrations by Malian artist Baba Wagué Diakité - created on handmade polychromed and glazed earthenware tiles - are simply gorgeous: colorful, humorous, attention-grabbing!

Here the reader (or listener) will discover Why Ananse Lives on the Ceiling, in which the spider trickster, so ashamed at being caught stealing food from his sons, climbs up to the highest corner of the house, in order to hide his face. In Ananse and the Feeding Pot, Ananse's jealousy of his own son, Ntikuma, and his inability to follow directions, lead to a humiliation in front of the entire village! Ananse Becomes the Owner of Stories chronicles our hero's capture of an entire house of honeybees, Aboatia of the forest dwarves, and Nanka the python; while Ananse, the Even-handed Judge sees his defeat, when he thinks to attend a funeral and wedding at the same time.

Six other selections round out The Pot of Wisdom, from the titular Ananse and the Pot of Wisdom, which I recognized from Joyce Cooper Arkhurst's The Adventures of Spider: West African Folktales, where it is called How the World Got Wisdom; to The Mat Confidences, which I had not previously encountered. Well-written and well-illustrated, this collection is one Ananse lovers will not want to miss! Highly recommended! ( )