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How Anansi Learned Self-Esteem: 10 Original Stories for Building Self-Confidence and Self-Respect

by James Culver, Jr.

110 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0611; ISBN 1-55369-798-7; US$17.95, C$27.95, EUR18.20, £12.60

How Anansi Learned Self-Esteem is a collection of ten original Anansi the Spider stories with illustrations. The stories cover various aspects of self-esteem development beneficial to children and general audiences.

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About the book      About the author      Sample excerpts or Table of Contents      Catalogue info

About the Book We are all beautiful and full of potential and we have the right to be happy! Does every child know that is true? Do you? How Anansi Learned Self-Esteem is a collection of ten original stories written and illustrated in a delightful and entertaining way to make ideas about self-esteem available to young readers and listeners. Its purpose is to help those in its audience define themselves in ways that lead to lives full of possibilities motivated by joy rather than lives of limited choices motivated by fear. These stories are meant to provide a forum for children and adults to talk about self-esteem. In this collection, Anansi the Spider learns through conversations with others and himself while on his journey. We can do the same. This book is one tool that can be used to help us develop something that is necessary for living successful lives, positive self-esteem. Travel along with Anansi the Spider as he learns important lessons that help him to have confidence in and respect for himself. Perhaps those lessons will inspire you to have more confidence in and respect for yourself too! Our possibilities are endless when we believe in each other and ourselves.

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About the Author James Culver, Jr. is a professional storyteller, author, musician, and consultant with wide-ranging experience in educational administration, retail and industrial management, and as an officer in the US military. James has traveled to Ghana where he studied West African drumming and collected stories. He has a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Illinois, a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Bradley University and is a certified intercultural communications consultant. James has worked with Fortune 500 companies, school districts, colleges, universities, civic organizations, and national programs in the area of student skill development. He has won numerous awards for his leadership and commitment to excellence. James lives in Germany with his wife Andrea. He enjoys traveling, music, dancing, cross cultural dialogue, and of course, hearing and telling stories. James Culver is available for storytelling presentations, workshops, coaching, and consulting through Anansi's Corner Productions. For more information, please contact James at James.Culver@Anansiscorner.com or through Trafford Publishing.

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Sample Excerpts and Table of Contents

Who is Anansi the Spider?

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Anansi the Spider is a West African character who appears in stories that have been told for centuries. Anansi is known to be very clever, sharp, and tricky. Anansi uses his mind to outsmart others, normally to find short cuts or to get others to do his work for him. In other parts of the world, Anansi the Spider is known as Kwaku Ananse, Miss Nancy, and even Brer Rabbit. Anansi is not always successful with his schemes. In fact, he often gets himself into trouble. But no matter how many times Anansi has problems; he keeps on going because he believes in himself.

Introduction

Why was it important for Anansi the Spider to learn self-esteem? Anansi learned that how he thought about himself made a big difference in how he thought about everything else. When he woke up in the morning and felt good about himself, there was no challenge to big for him to handle. It was easy for him to be smart and think his way through whatever his adventures brought his way.

When Anansi woke up not feeling very good about himself, everything was more difficult. On those bad days, Anansi only wanted to hide in the corner. He couldn't think well, he was embarrassed easily, and every bad thing others said to him hurt. On the good days, Anansi felt like he could do anything. On the bad days, Anansi felt like he couldn't do anything right.

For a long time how Anansi thought about himself depended on what was going on around him. For example, sunny days were good days but rainy days were bad days. Also, Anansi depended on the thoughts of others to decide how he thought about himself.

Some days others gave Anansi compliments. Compliment days were days when Anansi thought good things about himself. On the other hand, there were days when no one had a good thing to say about him. When Anansi didn't hear good things about himself, he wouldn't think good things about himself.

Since Anansi's feelings about himself depended on what was going on around him or what others said about him, he had some up days and many down days. After one bad day too many, Anansi decided to do something about them...

Table of Contents

Who is Anansi the Spider?	8
Introduction	9
How a Tree Taught Anansi a Lesson	13
Anansi's Ambitious Day	27
Anansi's Invisibility	35
The Confused Caterpillar	47
The Sun Always Shines	57
Afreeye and Ekwano	67
Anansi and the Forest of Doubt	77
Crabs in a Bucket	87
Anansi and the Sculptor	97
Jump to the Moon	107

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SANKOFA
Learning from the Past to Build the Future

Adinkra symbols like this one appear throughout the book. Each symbol tells a story. Today, they are used by the Ashanti people of Western Africa primarily to decorate cloth but they can be found in the designs of furniture, drums, and other items as well. They appear in this book as a tribute to the people who created them.

These new stories are dedicated to the millions of Africans in the world, past and present, who maintained their culture against incredible odds. Their commitment and perseverance allow us to learn from their centuries' old wisdom and apply the lessons today. Learning from the past can help us create a bright future.

How a Tree Taught Anansi
a Lesson

Excerpt

For many days, Anansi took the small golden drum with him every where he went and practiced whenever he could. He took the drum to the stream and learned to match the bubbling rhythm of the water as it rushed over the rocks. He took the drum to the field and learned to match the swishing rhythm of the wind as it moved the tall grass. Anansi learned the rhythm of the zebras as they galloped by. He even learned the rhythm of the powerful steps of the elephants. When he was alone Anansi would listen closely to the rhythm of his own heart and he learned to match it too.

One day when Anansi was playing his drum all by himself, he started playing a rhythm no one had ever heard before. It combined all of the rhythms he practiced before, including the rhythm of his heart. When Anansi found his rhythm, he enjoyed his playing so much that he forgot about the village drummers and he forgot about the talking tree in the enchanted forest. He played because it brought joy to his heart.

Jump to the Moon

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Catalogue Information

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