Anansi and the Talking Melon, retold by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Janet Stevens

This book is sure to be a hit with younger elementary students.  It is a trickster tale about a spider who gets into a melon and eats so much that he cannot get back out of the hole that he dug.  The spider tricks all of the animals into thinking that the melon can talk.  They take the melon to the king, who is a monkey.  The king gets frustrated because the melon will not talk and then throws the melon, upon which the spider is free.  The story does not end there...the spider gets into the bananas and the elephant then thinks that the bananas can talk.  It is a very funny story.  The students that I have read this to ask me to read it again and again.
Julie