Anansi and the Talking Cloth

By Caroline Brewer

Illustrated by Caldecott Honor Award winner Ekua Holmes, this modern and original Anansi the Spider story explores traditional kente-cloth making, written by award-winner Caroline Brewer, in cooperation with weaving expert Kwasi Asare.

When kente-cloth weavers stop weaving, Anansi the Spider must save the city in this rhythmic African folktale, a rhyming read-aloud trickster picture book.

This rhyming and rhythmic original Anansi fable finds Anansi the Spider needing to save the city. One day the sun stops shining because the kente-cloth making spiders stop weaving in protest against mass-produced cloth. Handmade kente cloth has made Africa famous and the spider city wealthy. Without it, the city is doomed.

Anansi faces the biggest challenge of his spider life, and his clever trickster past, coupled with help from his wife, will restore harmony.

Author Caroline Brewer and master kente-cloth weaver Kwasi Asare worked together to create this fresh take featuring the African trickster Anansi the Spider, a classic hero.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1623544211
• ISBN13: 9781623544218
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 3