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Anansi and the Talking Cloth

Author Caroline Brewer

Illustrated by Ekua Holmes

with Kwasi Asare

Hardcover

$17.99 US

Charlesbridge

9.94"W x 9.81"H x 0.4"D (25.2 x 24.9 x 1.0 cm) | 15 oz (437 g) | 32 per carton

On sale Aug 25, 2026 | 40 Pages | 9781623544218

Age 5-8 years | Grades K-3

Sales rights: World

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Children's Books > Children's Picture Books

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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.

Caroline Brewer is an award-winning children’s book author, artist, environmentalist, literacy consultant, and creator of Nature-Wise, a program for students and teachers that blends literacy and nature exploration. Caroline is also author and illustrator of Harriet Tubman, Force of Nature and author of Say Their Names. She lives in the Washington, DC, metro area.

Kwasi Asare was born in Nsawam, near the capital city of Accra, Ghana, and is one of Africa’s most prominent and accomplished weavers known for kente cloth, the highly prized Ghanaian cloth that traditionally symbolizes royalty, honor, and leadership. For the United Nations’ fiftieth anniversary in 1995, he created a new kente cloth design. Until 2017, it replaced the original cloth created by Kwasi’s father, A. E. Asare. www.kwasiasare.com

Ekua Holmes was awarded a Caldecott Honor, Coretta Scott King’s John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, Robert Siebert Award, and Boston Globe–Horn Book award for Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, her first illustration project. She won the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration twice: Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets and Stuff of Stars. www.ekuaholmes.com

Caroline Brewer View titles by Caroline Brewer

Ekua Holmes View titles by Ekua Holmes

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Caroline Brewer View titles by Caroline Brewer

Ekua Holmes View titles by Ekua Holmes

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Available for sale exclusive:

• Afghanistan

• Aland Islands

• Albania

• Algeria

• Andorra

• Angola

• Anguilla

• Antarctica

• Antigua/Barbuda

• Argentina

• Armenia

• Aruba

• Australia

• Austria

• Azerbaijan

• Bahamas

• Bahrain

• Bangladesh

• Barbados

• Belarus

• Belgium

• Belize

• Benin

• Bermuda

• Bhutan

• Bolivia

• Bonaire, Saba

• Bosnia Herzeg.

• Botswana

• Bouvet Island

• Brazil

• Brit.Ind.Oc.Ter

• Brit.Virgin Is.

• Brunei

• Bulgaria

• Burkina Faso

• Burundi

• Cambodia

• Cameroon

• Canada

• Cape Verde

• Cayman Islands

• Centr.Afr.Rep.

• Chad

• Chile

• China

• Christmas Islnd

• Cocos Islands

• Colombia

• Comoro Is.

• Congo

• Cook Islands

• Costa Rica

• Croatia

• Cuba

• Curacao

• Cyprus

• Czech Republic

• Dem. Rep. Congo

• Denmark

• Djibouti

• Dominica

• Dominican Rep.

• Ecuador

• Egypt

• El Salvador

• Equatorial Gui.

• Eritrea

• Estonia

• Ethiopia

• Falkland Islnds

• Faroe Islands

• Fiji

• Finland

• France

• Fren.Polynesia

• French Guinea

• Gabon

• Gambia

• Georgia

• Germany

• Ghana

• Gibraltar

• Greece

• Greenland

• Grenada

• Guadeloupe

• Guam

• Guatemala

• Guernsey

• Guinea Republic

• Guinea-Bissau

• Guyana

• Haiti

• Heard/McDon.Isl

• Honduras

• Hong Kong

• Hungary

• Iceland

• India

• Indonesia

• Iran

• Iraq

• Ireland

• Isle of Man

• Israel

• Italy

• Ivory Coast

• Jamaica

• Japan

• Jersey

• Jordan

• Kazakhstan

• Kenya

• Kiribati

• Kuwait

• Kyrgyzstan

• Laos

• Latvia

• Lebanon

• Lesotho

• Liberia

• Libya

• Liechtenstein

• Lithuania

• Luxembourg

• Macau

• Macedonia

• Madagascar

• Malawi

• Malaysia

• Maldives

• Mali

• Malta

• Marshall island

• Martinique

• Mauritania

• Mauritius

• Mayotte

• Mexico

• Micronesia

• Minor Outl.Ins.

• Moldavia

• Monaco

• Mongolia

• Montenegro

• Montserrat

• Morocco

• Mozambique

• Myanmar

• Namibia

• Nauru

• Nepal

• Netherlands

• New Caledonia

• New Zealand

• Nicaragua

• Niger

• Nigeria

• Niue

• Norfolk Island

• North Korea

• North Mariana

• Norway

• Oman

• Pakistan

• Palau

• Palestinian Ter

• Panama

• PapuaNewGuinea

• Paraguay

• Peru

• Philippines

• Pitcairn Islnds

• Poland

• Portugal

• Puerto Rico

• Qatar

• Reunion Island

• Romania

• Russian Fed.

• Rwanda

• S. Sandwich Ins

• Saint Martin

• Samoa,American

• San Marino

• SaoTome Princip

• Saudi Arabia

• Senegal

• Serbia

• Seychelles

• Sierra Leone

• Singapore

• Sint Maarten

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• Solomon Islands

• Somalia

• South Africa

• South Korea

• South Sudan

• Spain

• Sri Lanka

• St Barthelemy

• St. Helena

• St. Lucia

• St. Vincent

• St.Chr.,Nevis

• St.Pier,Miquel.

• Sth Terr. Franc

• Sudan

• Suriname

• Svalbard

• Swaziland

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Syria

• Tadschikistan

• Taiwan

• Tanzania

• Thailand

• Timor-Leste

• Togo

• Tokelau Islands

• Tonga

• Trinidad,Tobago

• Tunisia

• Turkey

• Turkmenistan

• Turks&Caicos Is

• Tuvalu

• US Virgin Is.

• USA

• Uganda

• Ukraine

• Unit.Arab Emir.

• United Kingdom

• Uruguay

• Uzbekistan

• Vanuatu

• Vatican City

• Venezuela

• Vietnam

• Wallis,Futuna

• West Saharan

• Western Samoa

• Yemen

• Zambia

• Zimbabwe

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