Here are seven Ananse stories from Ghana pulsating with mischievous animals, a touch of moral message and, peeping out wickedly above them all, Ananse the trickster spider. The original title story, The Parade, telling why Ananse became a trickster in the first place, is a worthy opener to six traditional stories including the favourites Ananse and the Sky God and Ananse and the Hat of Beans. For centuries, Ananse stories have been used in Ghana and the Caribbean to entertain children and teach them good behaviour - and with their vibrant sense of fun and cunning, these stories are sure to have enduring appeal.

 

There are 96 pages in this book. This book was published 2010 by Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd .

Raised in Cape Coast and Accra, in Ghana, K. P. Kojo grew up hearing stories from his parents, his blind grandmother, orange-sellers, teachers and a rag-bag of friends with whom he ran wild. Many years later, in London, he was asked to visit a library and tell stories. Two days later he found himself kneeling in front of twenty six-year-olds retelling an Ananse story. That was in 2001. Since then he has worked in over 100 schools throughout the UK, using moral-based storytelling to show children how to make up their own stories. The Parade is his first children's book. KAREN LILJE studied design and illustration at the University of Pretoria and has illustrated several children's books for publishers in south Africa. She has won awards for both design and illustration including the One Show for design, and has been published in Lurzer's Archive for a designed illustration campaign. The Parade is her first book for Frances Lincoln. She lives in Cape Town. Uzo Unobagha was born in Nigeria. She lives in the USA with her husband. This is her first children's book. Julia Cairns was born in England and lived in East Africa. She now lives in USA Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a Ghanaian writer and Senior Editor at Flipped Eye publishing. A 2007 recipient of Ghana's national ACRAG award for poetry and literary advocacy, he is a former International Writing Fellow at the University of Southampton. In 2009, his short story, 'Socks Ball', was highly commended in the Caine Prize for African Writing, and his novel Tail of the Blue Bird (Jonathan Cape, 2009) was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Nii Ayikwei writes for children under the name K. P. Kojo and spends his time in Ghana and the United Kingdom.