The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse Stories

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

These 10 African tales, which are drawn from the Ananse stories of
Ghana, deal with a range of important issues in a wry, fanciful way.
Ananse is a very special spider, but looks ordinary. He never falls, but
lurks in high corners, hiding his face. Like the raven, coyote, and
jaguar in the storytelling traditions of North, Central, and South
American Native culture, Ananse is a trickster.

The tales include “Why Ananse Lives on the Ceiling,” “Ananse
Becomes the Owner of Stories,” and “Ananse and the Pot of Wisdom.”
The latter is a variant on the Western proverb, “Pride goeth before a
fall.” The accompanying illustrations, in warm browns and greens
spiked with deep blue, are wonderfully imaginative and thoroughly
amusing.

Adwoa Badoe, the author of several picture books, is also a physician
and African dance teacher who lives in Guelph, Ontario. Badoe grew up in
Ghana listening to the Ananse stories told to her by her mother. Baba
Wagué Diakité is an accomplished author/illustrator whose first
picture book, The Hunterman and the Crocodile was named a Coretta Scott
King Honor Book. He heard similar tales during his childhood in Mali.
Young readers of The Pot of Wisdom will enjoy these entertaining tales
and learn something about the Ghanian culture that inspired them. Highly
recommended.