Story of the World, ch. 11: Ancient Africa

I was disappointed by the lack of resources available for this chapter. Even the books recommended in SOW itself were limited in their information. We ended up with a number of oral tradition story books, and one Schelssinger video.

African Beginnings. James Haskins and Kathleen Benson (1998). Beautiful, full page illustrations coupled with good historical information makes this volume great additional reading for any study of ancient Africa.

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti. Gerald McDermott (1982). Fun, bright illustrations created from paper complement the traditional trickster tale of mischevious Anansi. McDermott's trickster tale books make really fun reading. We also read his Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster from West Africa( 1996).

The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse Stories. Adwoa Badoe (2001). A nice collection of Anansi trickster tales.

The Talking Vegetables. Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret Lippert (2006). One of Calvin's favorite Anansi stories.

Anansi and the Talking Melon. Eric Kimmel (1994). Kimmel's versions of the Anansi tales, illustrated by Janet Stevens, are highly enjoyable. We read this one, and his version of Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock (1988) and I think they were Calvin's favorites. These are also available read aloud on video, old-fashioned like, with the book illustrations showing, no animation. Great for younger kids.

We also watched the Schlessinger Ancient Africa video from their Ancient Civilizations series. It was fine, but not stellar.

Weekly book shelf 3/9/12

Weekly topic reading:

Gilgamesh the King, The Revenge of Ishtar, and The Last Quest of Gilgamesh make up this trilogy that tells the Epic of Gilgamesh in picture book format. It's a fun way to approach the epic; the illustrations really add to the feel of the era. That being said, Calvin says he enjoyed the chapter book format (listed below) even better. (History)

This one is really dense with fantastic informaton. It covers exactly what it says in its subtitle: from foraging to farming. The information is great, but we did a lot of skimming because it was pretty text heavy for a young child. (History)

Reading to himself:

Geraldine McCaughrean is known for her ability to bring archaic texts to kids without completely washing out their original appeal. If you are looking purely for authenticity, then no, this is not the book for you. And I haven't ever studied any of the texts that are considered relatively authentic so I cannot really draw comparison, but this book maintains some of the integrity of the epic while making it accessible for middle elementary readers. Beware, though—keeping its integrity means there is a bit of violence and gore. Calvin loved it. (History)

Reading out loud:

Here is another classic that probably needs no introduction. Norton Juster's award winning story of a boy who travels through a magical world full of whimsy. It is probably best known for its hilarious word play, and that is the reason it so well loved around here.