Spider Stories

Matthew Kirby
BookSurge (2007)
ISBN 9781419663598
Reviewed by Maya Landers (age 9) for Reader Views (11/07)

“Spider Stories” by Matthew Kirby has a great plot, well-developed characters, and beautiful settings. The story is not too long-winded, but it does have just enough detail for you to understand what everything looks like, feels like, tastes like, sounds like, and smells like. Although it can be a bit slow-moving at times, it is still an awesome book.
          
The characters are funny and high-spirited, and you almost feel as if you have met them yourself or that they are telling you the stories that the novel is full of. For example, Brer Rabbit is always evading Fox, using the most hilarious maneuvers to do so. From dashing round tree trunks so that Fox would run into them to being tossed in a brier patch, the antics of this funny trickster will keep you laughing all day.
          
Kirby uses beautiful language and descriptive words, enabling the reader to easily imagine the characters and settings. He is almost poetic, even when describing the simplest of things, like a sunset or a sunrise. An example of this would be: “The sun rose over the eastern hills like a cooling ember in the violet sky” (page 10).
         
I think that Kirby has done a fabulous job conveying the old Anansi tales, and in making them more than just stories, he has flourished.  It is not only a novel; it is also a collection of short stories. Every time Anansi meets another person, “let me tell you a story” he says, smiling. Then down he sits, ready to trade the stories that make this book wonderful--even all night, sometimes! However, Anansi cannot always lie around telling stories, for Tiger has gotten wind of his new occupation, and he is determined to put a stop to it--by any means necessary.

I would recommend “Spider Stories” to my friends because I thought that it was well-written, at a good pace, and interesting. Now that I have read this book, I want to read the original Anansi stories to see if they are anything like this novel. If they are anything near as funny, quick-witted and high-spirited, I know that it will be a good, entertaining read.

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