A variety of animals try to help a hare get rid of the mysterious intruder who has taken over her house.
Animals
The Honey Hunters
An African folktale in which various animals peacefully follow a honey guide bird, but find that sharing the honey among themselves causes problems.
What the Animals Were Waiting For
Cowbells tinkle. And over there, a family of elephants munches on dry grass, flaps huge ears like slow fans, and waits. It is a time of waiting. The gazelles, the wildebeest and the zebras are all waiting. The lions, too, and the crocodiles are waiting. Little Tepi watches the animals and wonders what is coming. Soon there will be rain, and food for everyone! In simple, stirring verse, this stunningly illustrated picture book tells the story of the dramatic cycles of life on the Masai Mara range in Africa — one of the last great, wild places on Earth.
The Royal Drum: An Ashanti Tale
A read-aloud rebus treasure from the Ashanti in Ghana. Who is the laziest animal of all? All the animals gather together to help make a drum for the king of the jungle, but Anansi makes certain that Monkey ends up with the hardest job of all.
Sungura and Leopard: A Swahili Trickster Tale
A small but clever hare and a fierce leopard agree to share a house, but as the hare’s family grows, he realizes that he must find a way to get rid of his bad-tempered neighbor.
Baby Baboon
When lazy Leopard cannot catch Hare for his dinner, he goes after Baby Baboon instead.
The Three Little Dassies
In this adaptation of the traditional folktale, three little dassies (also called rock hyraxes) build their houses in the Namib Desert of Southern Africa, hoping for protection from the eagle that lives atop a nearby mountain.
The Lonely Lioness and the Ostrich Chicks
In this retelling of a Masai tale, a mongoose helps an ostrich get her chicks back from the lonely lioness who has stolen them.
Peering down from her treetop perch, a lonely lioness admires the noisily cheeping clan of Mother Ostrich and thinks, “I would be happy to have just one child.” So she leaps down, gurum! and steals all four ostrich chicks. Accepting the lioness as their mother, the chicks follow right behind he. Mother Ostrich is frantic! As she chases after the lioness, she enlists the help of gazelle, hyena, jackal, and mongoose.
Koi and the Kola Nuts
An African folktale follows the son of a chief who must make his way in the world with only a sackful of kola nuts and the help of some creatures that he has treated with kindness.
Ananse’s Feast: An Ashanti Tale
Unwilling to share his feast, Ananse the spider tricks Akye the turtle so that he can eat all the food himself, but Akye finds a way to get even.