A fun middle grade graphic novel mostly set in Ghana, although the main character is Ghanaian-American. Retells traditional Ananse stories within a modern setting. This also has good insights for third culture kids, as Nana tries to navigate being the foreigner in her grandmother's country. The illustrations definitely capture the Ghanaian setting; I felt they were less successful capturing the expressions and actions of people.

The story was interesting, but the art wasn't very good and I struggled to look paste that bit. But I also really want to see more African representation, and so I will tell people looking for these types of stories about this book.

The art style is not very appealing, and the layout of the comic panels often made it difficult to follow the story. None of the characters were particularly likeable, and the plot felt rushed, with the main conflict introduced and taken care of very quickly.

<b>What it’s about:</b> Nana is often accused of lying, to the point that she gets in trouble at school for saying it was circus squirrels that stole the principal's toupee. Nana's family decide to send her to visit family for the summer, so Nana is sent to Ghana.

Once there, Nana finds it difficult to fit in, particularly with her cousin who seems to take an instant dislike to her. But Nana's grandmother is kind and patient, even when Nana messes up. It's Grandmother who teaches Nana about the magic tree in their back yard.

When Nana stumbles on a mining operation in the sacred woods, she's confused - especially when they seem to be mining the area's magic.

Nana teams up with her cousin, a friend, and the trickster Anansi to try to end the mining operation and restore magic to the area.

<b>What I thought:</b> This book was a bit confusing. It seems to play fast and loose with the idea of magic - it might exist, or it might just be part of the stories being told. Anansi might be a magical trickster spider being, or he might not be.

While the story was sort of interesting despite being a bit confusing, the art did not work for me. The layouts were a little consuming to me. Speech bubbles pushed through panels in ways that made it difficult to follow some parts of the conversation in places. Additionally, my ARC of this book wouldn't let me increase the image sizes, so there were places the details were difficult to make out.

I like that the story is trying to create a metaphor for how colonial powers undermined and of destroyed cultures in Africa. It's a bit heavy-handed; I feel like with a little massaging, it could have pulled off the trick a bit better, but it's creating a point of comparison for later discussion. But the story takes too long to get there. I suppose Agyemang is trying to build a bridge for readers between America and Ghana - there are some culture elements that get brought up and explained. I guess one could argue that it's laying the groundwork for the characters and setting, but it's a long way to get to the "good stuff".

There's also sort of an allusion to climate change - the magic mining operation is being done by a giant machine, and it's causing the local plants to die. This one seems like it could use a little beefing up - it's a bit thin, if it's not just something I'm putting on the story myself.

<b>Why I chose those shelves:</b> Trigger, bullying, violence: The miners kidnap and threaten Nana and her friends; issue, political, racism, sociology: This story is a thinly veiled (threadbare) allegory for the plundering of resources by colonial powers - the head bad guy is a blond haired, blue eyed man; Black: Almost all the characters are Black, and the story mostly takes place in Ghana; mythology: There are several digressions into African myths, particularly regarding Anansi; fantasy, supernatural, magic: The story seems to go back and forth as to whether what is going on is "really" happening, but the mining of magic is treated like an actual "thing", which adds to the confusion - there is even a scene where the magic seems to actually work (in a very genie-of-the-lamp-tricking-people-with-interpretation-of-the-wish kind of way); coming of age: Nana is treated as an immature liar, and she tries to overcome that reputation; climate change: mining the magic of the forest is killing the plant life in the area.

<b>Why I rated it like I did:</b> This story has potential, but I feel like it could use a bit more editing to reach more of that potential.

I really liked this graphic novel! I thought it was a great blend of storytelling, Ghanaian & American layers and illustrations. It was a super quick read and I loved the color palette and the overall feel of the book. I hope that that there will be more of these stories/make it a series!

The storyline was good, with each character having their own personality and look to some extent. The plot is well paced. The art is a bit casual in style with deep colors and a unique "feel' that goes well with the setting and the tone of the story. Not a great graphic novel but an enjoyable one.

The story had little flow. The characters were all flat and two dimensional.

I Wass not a fan of the art work- half the reason I read graphic novels.

I had read the books about Anansi but this was a refreshing new angle of this story. By traveling with the three youngsters to the forest and the mines we were able to learn their characteristics and how this all played out in this tale about culture plus the importance of telling the truth. hank you for this experience.

In this graphic novel, author Agyemang takes us from a modern classroom to a village in Ghana using the traditional tales of Anansi the trickster spider to carry the story between both settings. Nana is in trouble again at school, something about a circus of flying squirrels stealing her teacher's toupe or at least that's the story she's sticking to! Her family has had enough of her wild stories and trouble at school so instead of heading off to summer writing camp with her best friend, Nana is sent to live with relatives in Ghana for the summer. Not knowing the language or the culture of her family's ancestral land, Nana is easily tricked by Anansi. However, Nana has s few tricks up her sleeve too and may just get the better of the that tricky spider. Panels flowed well, a few had too much text which could have been broken into additional panels. The ending seemed rather abrupt and a lengthy author's note appears at the end of the book explaining more about the oral traditions of Anansi tales.