First Palm Trees

by James Berry

Rhythmic language and stunning illustrations highlight this original Anancy Spiderman story The wily trickster Anancy Spiderman tries to bribe Sun, Water, Earth, and Air Spirits into creating the world's first palm trees so he can claim the king's reward. He promises to split the prize with the Spirits, offering each fantastic gifts for creating the trees independently. But the Spirits insist they need to work together. Reluctantly Anancy agrees to a partnership with all four Spirits, confident in his ability to trick them and collect the whole reward himself. However, the Spirits' philosophy of cooperation wins out. When the palm trees appear, they are everywhere; the king declares that since the trees are clearly meant for everyone, everyone should share his reward and he hosts a feast for all the villagers. Only later does Anancy get proper credit for helping to bring palm trees to the world.

Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

James Berry, OBE, Hon FRSL (1924-2017) was a black Jamaican poet and writer who settled in England in the 1940s. His poetry is notable for using a mixture of standard English and Jamaican Patois.

Reviews

[Awjtf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't like this one quite as much as other Anancy/Anansi stories I've read, but it is definitely a nice addition to the canon. It was perhaps a bit long-winded for the result it achieved, and it didn't have quite the playful irony that I expect, partly because it didn't seem like Anansi knew what he was doing during the story. But it did stay true to the Anansi character. The artwork was lush, and I loved the clever ways that the artist depicted a human with the appearance/impression of a spider.

[Ed McKeogh · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface, it might seem odd to see a children's picture book on an adult's book list--and rated with 5 stars, no less! But here's the thing: The artwork by Greg Couch is stunning, and that's why I love this book. The richness of color and clever design make Mr. Couch's art breathtaking. If you love good art, you'll love this book.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We enjoy reading books about Anancy the trickster and we really like the stories by Eric Kimmel. We were excited to discover an Anancy story we hadn't read before at our local library. It's an entertaining tale, but not one of our favorites.