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The Spider Weaver: A Legend Of Kente Cloth
In this retelling of a tale from Ghana, a wondrous spider shows two Ashanti weavers how to make intricate, colorful patterns in the cloth that they weave. By the author of Ashanti to Zulu.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 7, 2012
The Spider Weaver follows a very simple structure, yet stands out as a rich and engaging tale that children will undoubtedly enjoy. The story begins with two weavers from a tiny Ghanaian village who come a across a spider creating the most extraordinary patterns with its web. The men try to take the web home with them to show their village, but it is too delicate and falls apart in their hands. The men feel terrible, but, on returning to the spider’s location, they find that it is already making a new web, just as beautiful as before. Rather than try to take it, this time the men wait and watch how the spider works and, in doing so, discover the secret of making such wonderful patterns for themselves. This, the legend goes, is how Kente cloth was born.
I have found this story to be extremely successful when reading it to a year 1 class, although it could certainly be used as an individual reading book, both in year 1 and 2. The illustrations are bright and colourful and the simple narrative supports accessibility for lower level readers. The Spider Weaver would be an excellent choice for use in conjunction with a history, geography or textiles lesson, or just as an enjoyable end of day treat.
I have found this story to be extremely successful when reading it to a year 1 class, although it could certainly be used as an individual reading book, both in year 1 and 2. The illustrations are bright and colourful and the simple narrative supports accessibility for lower level readers. The Spider Weaver would be an excellent choice for use in conjunction with a history, geography or textiles lesson, or just as an enjoyable end of day treat.
April 22, 2019
This is a fantastic folklore about two expert weavers in The Ashanti Village, in Ghana. These men wove cloths for everyone to wear, until one day they discovered a new, wondrous design in the forest. They tried to bring home their newly found "treasure" home, but ruined it on accident. They soon realized that the web was could not be recreated, and set out to find who weaved this web. Upon the discovery of a spider, the two men decided not to destroy her home, and the spider created a web in front of their eyes! This book instills a sense of respect for nature in children, and shows how the two mens discovery was more than what the eye could see!
I would read this book with children in either grade 3 or 4, and would also have it in my reading library for students to read as they please. With this book, I would create an activity that incorporates science into their reading block. Each student would pick a different spider to conduct research on, and would discover all there is to know about this spider. The students would be able to present their project however they like, but would need to include facts about the spider, what their web looks like, and survival features that the spider has! This project would be beneficial to the students because though they are all doing it on spiders, each student has their own choice in which spider interests them the most. Another activity I could do with my students is having them develop their own folklore! We would do a lesson on folklores, attached with this book, and the students would be instructed to write their own urban legend. This helps children channel their creative side, and allows them the freedom to write about whatever they want. They students would have the opportunity to share their stories with the class when they were all completed, allowing the students to take ownership and pride of their hard work!
This is a WOW book for me because it has so many underlying themes in it. It teaches us to respect nature, and to see the beauty in everything. People today often look as spiders as our enemy, and automatically dislike them without really understanding how spectacular they are. Just like spiders, humans are amazing creatures that we often forget to see the beauty in. We overlook what makes each one of us unique, and this book reminds us to see the uniqueness in everything, and everyone!
I would read this book with children in either grade 3 or 4, and would also have it in my reading library for students to read as they please. With this book, I would create an activity that incorporates science into their reading block. Each student would pick a different spider to conduct research on, and would discover all there is to know about this spider. The students would be able to present their project however they like, but would need to include facts about the spider, what their web looks like, and survival features that the spider has! This project would be beneficial to the students because though they are all doing it on spiders, each student has their own choice in which spider interests them the most. Another activity I could do with my students is having them develop their own folklore! We would do a lesson on folklores, attached with this book, and the students would be instructed to write their own urban legend. This helps children channel their creative side, and allows them the freedom to write about whatever they want. They students would have the opportunity to share their stories with the class when they were all completed, allowing the students to take ownership and pride of their hard work!
This is a WOW book for me because it has so many underlying themes in it. It teaches us to respect nature, and to see the beauty in everything. People today often look as spiders as our enemy, and automatically dislike them without really understanding how spectacular they are. Just like spiders, humans are amazing creatures that we often forget to see the beauty in. We overlook what makes each one of us unique, and this book reminds us to see the uniqueness in everything, and everyone!
October 20, 2018
All people that have had encounters with women from West Africa know that they generally wear very colorful clothing. Ghana is a country in West Africa and this book contains a legend of the origin of kente cloth, the material with intricate patterns that both catches the eye and often is an expression of proverbs.
In the story, the patterns were first observed in a spider web by male weavers and in their excitement the weavers destroyed the webs with no hope of recovering the patterns. No matter how hard they tried, they were unable to remember or reproduce the intricate patterns.
Finally, the weavers went back to where they observed the web and found another. This time they simply observed and when the spider emerged, it engaged in a series of movements that explained to the weavers how the pattern could be woven. The resultant kente cloth is now the most popular and distinctive form of clothing worn by Africans from the western section of the country.
Legends of humans being passed something of value by intelligent animals is generally a constant across many cultures. In this case, the natural attribution of intricate designs to a spider, the master of weaving intricate designs, is presented. The level is that of late middle school and the illustrations are colorful and intricate. In many ways, the best way to learn about a culture is to study the legends, in this case the reader will learn a bit about the nation of Ghana.
In the story, the patterns were first observed in a spider web by male weavers and in their excitement the weavers destroyed the webs with no hope of recovering the patterns. No matter how hard they tried, they were unable to remember or reproduce the intricate patterns.
Finally, the weavers went back to where they observed the web and found another. This time they simply observed and when the spider emerged, it engaged in a series of movements that explained to the weavers how the pattern could be woven. The resultant kente cloth is now the most popular and distinctive form of clothing worn by Africans from the western section of the country.
Legends of humans being passed something of value by intelligent animals is generally a constant across many cultures. In this case, the natural attribution of intricate designs to a spider, the master of weaving intricate designs, is presented. The level is that of late middle school and the illustrations are colorful and intricate. In many ways, the best way to learn about a culture is to study the legends, in this case the reader will learn a bit about the nation of Ghana.
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April 28, 2022Genre: Folklore
Bibliography:Musgrove, M., & Cairns, J. (2002). The spider weaver: A legend of kente cloth. New York: Scholastic Inc.
Response: Targeting elementary school children, The Spider Waver by Margaret Musgrove is a great introduction to different cultures that aren't majorly talked about in schools and in other settings. The book is about a folk story that talks about where Kente cloth came from, which is an important hallmark of the country of Ghana. Culture is continued through stories told to younger generations, and it's important that all generations, even those far away, be exposed and told to keep the cultures alive. The illustrations are colorful and intriguing and really bring the story to life. The author also provides notes in the back of the book that provides clarity and additional information to curious readers. Overall, this is a great introduction for young readers to folklore from other countries and the origin story of certain fabrics, people, and thoughts.
Bibliography:Musgrove, M., & Cairns, J. (2002). The spider weaver: A legend of kente cloth. New York: Scholastic Inc.
Response: Targeting elementary school children, The Spider Waver by Margaret Musgrove is a great introduction to different cultures that aren't majorly talked about in schools and in other settings. The book is about a folk story that talks about where Kente cloth came from, which is an important hallmark of the country of Ghana. Culture is continued through stories told to younger generations, and it's important that all generations, even those far away, be exposed and told to keep the cultures alive. The illustrations are colorful and intriguing and really bring the story to life. The author also provides notes in the back of the book that provides clarity and additional information to curious readers. Overall, this is a great introduction for young readers to folklore from other countries and the origin story of certain fabrics, people, and thoughts.
May 5, 2019
This book The Spider Weaver is a children's folklore book for ages 5-9. This book is about a master spider weaver who has a remarkable gift she gave to the people in Ghana. The colorful patterns of these magical webs were woven into kente cloth fabric. I rated this book a 4 out of 5 stars because of the way that it stood out to me. I love the use of colors that were being used in the clothing, that's one thing that caught my attention. Something else4 that caught my was that even though this book may seem to be very simple it does have a lot of meaning to it. In this book is explains how Kente cloth started. In the back of the book it also gives us some educational facts that we may want to know about our history. This book would be very useful in a classroom when teaching about African Americans.
March 12, 2017
No Awards
Appropriate grade levels: 1-3
This book is about two men that find a web that they are very impressed by. They return the next day to find and see the spider web again. Eventually, they go back to their village and they try to replicate the web by creating what is called kente cloth.
I enjoyed reading this book! I would definitely use it in my future classroom. The illustrations are simple, yet beautiful and they add to the story.
You could use this in a classroom to teach about a different culture/legend that the students most likely haven't heard of. You could also use it to start a project to have the students make their own webs.
Appropriate grade levels: 1-3
This book is about two men that find a web that they are very impressed by. They return the next day to find and see the spider web again. Eventually, they go back to their village and they try to replicate the web by creating what is called kente cloth.
I enjoyed reading this book! I would definitely use it in my future classroom. The illustrations are simple, yet beautiful and they add to the story.
You could use this in a classroom to teach about a different culture/legend that the students most likely haven't heard of. You could also use it to start a project to have the students make their own webs.
November 18, 2021
The story is pretty simple, would have been nice to have more about how the cloth is weaved or the meaning behind different designs. For a book about Kente cloth, there was very little of it depicted, would have been nice to incorporate it into page borders, for example. I found the information note at the back to be most interesting.
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July 4, 2022The Spider Weaver is a book I have never heard of before. This would a great book to use in the classroom. Most children probably are not going to know what they are talking about. It would be new for most students. You would have to make sure to give some background information. It would be a great story to talk about new vocabulary words.
March 1, 2019
It's a good story,, and the notes in the back are educational, but every bit of it reads as if written by a visitor to the culture, and i miss the familiarity of someone who grew up with the tale
May 7, 2019
Kente cloth -- Folklore -- Juvenile literature.
Ashanti (African people) -- Folklore -- Juvenile literature.
Folklore -- Ghana.
Ashanti (African people) -- Folklore -- Juvenile literature.
Folklore -- Ghana.
August 28, 2020
Folktale about the origin of kente cloth. Enjoyed!
May 18, 2021
A sweet and lovely tale that is almost reverent in its acknowledgement of the beauty of nature. An all-time classic folk tale from West Africa.
September 27, 2023
This is the greatest book about weaving & legends.
April 23, 2025
A nice legend, good information, and made me like spiders a little better.
April 30, 2009
Long ago in Gahana two weavers stumble upon a beautiful web and are inspired; they try to take it home to study it but it falls apart on them. They become despondent. Interestingly, it is the wife of one of the weaver’s who encourages them to find another one. They find and then watch a spider weave a similar web for hours; when they recreate the pattern themselves the result is Kente cloth. The watercolors capture – albeit a bit stereotypically – an African village and the jungle. The kente cloth illustrations stand out in contrast to the mono color clothes they wore earlier. Since the book was a result of the author’s Fulbright grant researching children’s stories in Ghana one can presume that its tale is authentic. I think the book could have been longer and incorporate portions of the afterward, e.g. “all of the traditional old patterns have meanings which, for the most part, are proverbs,” or talk about the meanings of the colors. But on the other hand the focus is on the origin myth of kente cloth and it achieves that well.
May 8, 2012
This was a big hit in my classroom. After teaching my students a little bit about Africa, and about Kente cloth in particular, I noticed that I had this book in my classroom library (and I honestly had never read it before)... so I skimmed through and decided to use it with my students. It is a folk tale (a porquoi tale...) that explains how Kente cloth came to be. Two weavers saw a beautiful spider web.... they wanted to copy it but when they tried to take it home with them, it was destroyed. So instead they returned and the spider slowly and patiently spun another web, showing them how to create the beautiful design. Then they recreated it on their looms, and this is (according to the tale) how kente cloth came to be. The book also includes an author's note that gives facts about kente. Many of my students have asked to reread the book and I've heard them talking about it for a week now.
May 1, 2009
Our summer camp program is focusing on Gana- West Africa this summer. hildren will come and learn rhythms on hand drums.... dances to go with the rhythms.... they will create mud cloth and jewlery. They will have a closing ceremony wearing kente cloth and performing all that they learned in a village celebration. As a part of the program we infuse literature that relates o the experience. This is the book that our Visual Arts Specialist picked out. it is a lovely tale of two weavers who have a magnificant lesson from a spider who show them the intricate way in which she weaves her web. When the weavers go back to thier village- they begin to emmulate the designs and eventually create cloth cam to be known as kente cloth.
Beautiful choice of literature..... fabulous illustrations!
Beautiful choice of literature..... fabulous illustrations!
November 29, 2020
Great story to share little world history and culture in a fun way with my little one.
We enjoyed that the art was expressive and colorful. While I am well aware that the continent of Africa has more genetic human diversity than anywhere else in the world, I appreciated that the illustrations didn't white wash the African people depicted and instead chose to use darker, fuller featured images.
My small human has spent days trying to make their own Kente designs thanks to this beautiful tale. This one has always been fascinated by the explanations of "why" and the short story does a great job of breathing life into a legend that many here in the US do not know.
We enjoyed that the art was expressive and colorful. While I am well aware that the continent of Africa has more genetic human diversity than anywhere else in the world, I appreciated that the illustrations didn't white wash the African people depicted and instead chose to use darker, fuller featured images.
My small human has spent days trying to make their own Kente designs thanks to this beautiful tale. This one has always been fascinated by the explanations of "why" and the short story does a great job of breathing life into a legend that many here in the US do not know.
March 20, 2014
The kente cloth is something that is literally foreign to me but it was very easy to get pulled into. This folklore picture book tells the mythology behind the creation of the colorful kente cloth in Africa. Essentially two men discover a beautiful web in the forest and they search to find the origin of it.
I would use this book when I teach mythology. Too many mythology lessons are western-centric and this is a good chance to share world mythology with a class. I would probably have my students create their own myths after reading this.
I would use this book when I teach mythology. Too many mythology lessons are western-centric and this is a good chance to share world mythology with a class. I would probably have my students create their own myths after reading this.
April 7, 2015
I enjoyed this book very much and think it could be incorporated in to the elementary classroom in many ways. The book is about weavers in Ghana and has beautiful illustrations that would help keep children's attention, as well as help them understand unfamiliar words. I thought it could be a good book to assign to a group in which they would read aloud to their classmates and research and present their findings about this culture. Along with this, other groups could research, present, and read a book from other cultures around the world.
April 15, 2015
I liked reading this book and looking at the illustrations. It was bright and the characters names were fun to say and I liked that it was simple enough for a preschooler to understand. I think this would be a great book to present in a classroom to talk about other cultures and traditions. There are many unique words that children could use their knowledge of context clues to guess their meaning. There is a pronunciation guide in the back along with more in depth information about kente cloths and the tradition of cloth weaving in African cultures.
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December 11, 2015In this African legend two weavers discover a magical-looking spider web in the jungle. They find out it was made by spiders and ask the spider to teach them how to make it. The men return to their village and create complete patterns of their own, adding color and made their patterns into what we now know as Kente cloth.
June 8, 2012
from Ghana
October 14, 2013
Great for Africa unit
December 10, 2013
I was happy to find an example of non-European folklore. The illustrations are interesting; they're in the style of the kente cloth which the story's about.
December 22, 2014
A lovely book with amazingly vibrant colors with the legend of the Ashanti people and their weaving abilities intertwined.
June 28, 2016
When a spider teaches master weavers new designs, a new style of weaving is born.
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April 21, 2019This text takes place in Ghana, and is a folklore book perfect for students in grades 2-5. The book starts off when two village weavers discover a spider's web in the forest, but are disappointed when they cannot bring it back to study without ripping or breaking the web. The weavers attempt to find the kind of spider that spun the web and when they found the spider, they watched her spin her web. The weavers used her techniques to change their loom and dye their cloth in order to create beautiful designs and clothes, called kente cloth.
This book could be used in order to incorporate social studies into the classroom's reading block. Students could use this book, and others, to learn about different cultures and how people from different countries may live. Students could use this book and then complete an activity in which they are all assigned a country. They must become an "expert" on their country and then present interesting facts and information about their country to a small group. Before students complete this independently, as a class, we will find interesting facts about Ghana and then locate it on the map.
Along with this, you could also focus on the country of Ghana, specifically, and students could collaborate with a partner and do a research project on the country. After this, we could create a class book using all the groups' information and each student could get their own copy.
This was a WOW book for me because the pictures in the book were so beautiful and colorful and fit the folklore perfectly. I love how this folklore is centered around a country students might not otherwise be exposed to often, or know much about.
This book could be used in order to incorporate social studies into the classroom's reading block. Students could use this book, and others, to learn about different cultures and how people from different countries may live. Students could use this book and then complete an activity in which they are all assigned a country. They must become an "expert" on their country and then present interesting facts and information about their country to a small group. Before students complete this independently, as a class, we will find interesting facts about Ghana and then locate it on the map.
Along with this, you could also focus on the country of Ghana, specifically, and students could collaborate with a partner and do a research project on the country. After this, we could create a class book using all the groups' information and each student could get their own copy.
This was a WOW book for me because the pictures in the book were so beautiful and colorful and fit the folklore perfectly. I love how this folklore is centered around a country students might not otherwise be exposed to often, or know much about.
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