✦Eric A. Kimmel · Reading companion
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock
Bring your copy and explore repeated patterns, careful observation, and the difference between a clever idea and a fair choice.
A book to read together
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock
Original prompts to use with your copy.
This original Curiosi companion is for Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, retold by Eric A. Kimmel and illustrated by Janet Stevens. Read from a family or library copy. This guide discusses that particular picture book, rather than treating one version as the whole of Anansi storytelling.
Begin with an observation
Before reading, look at the cover of your copy together. Name something you can see, then offer one question about it. Keep observations separate from guesses about the story. Read the creator credits and notice that a retelling has a particular teller and illustrator. Invite the child to listen for something that repeats.
Listen for a pattern
During reading, pause when the child notices a repeated kind of action, phrase, or response. What seems familiar, and what has changed? Let the child point to a clue in your copy or describe it in their own words. Predict one possibility for what might come next, leaving room for the book to surprise you.
Ask who benefits
After reading, choose a decision in the book to discuss. Who benefits, and who is affected? Does an idea being clever automatically make it fair? Support your view with a detail from your copy. Consider what an observant character notices that another might miss, without reconstructing every event or deciding there must be a single correct response.
Make a changing pattern
Make six paper cards with a circle, a leaf shape, and a triangle repeated twice. Ask a partner to describe the pattern. Change one card and invite them to notice what is different. Together invent a new pattern and explain its rule. This activity practises observation using your own designs, rather than recreating the book’s tricks.
Your turn to read
Keep the conversation going
There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.
What repeated detail did you notice?
Which clue helped you explain a character’s choice?
How could you change your own card pattern?
Make something: Draw a second pattern that follows a different rule. Invite someone to explain the rule, then compare which clues helped them.
