The First Adventures of Spider: West African Folktales

This early chapter book is an abridged version of the 1964 collection, “The Adventures of Spider: West African Folktales” written by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst and illustrated by Caldecott and Coretta Scott King award winning illustrator Jerry Pinkney.  It’s part of the level 4 Passport to Reading series.  According to the introduction, people in West Africa love to listen to stories and Spider is a favorite character.  This book tells three stories about Spider—why Spider is bald, why Spider has a thin waist, and why Spider lives in ceilings.  Recommended for children in 1^st grade and up who are ready for short chapter books, and this would make a good read-aloud for younger children.