Gail E Haley

Recounts how most African folk tales came to be called "Spider Stories."

Kokopelli the Cicada leads the Ant People from the Dark World up to various other worlds and finally to the Green World, helping teach them along the way what they will need to know to survive and thrive there as the First People.

Four short stories entitled Inviting Jason, The Night of the Leonids, Camp Fat, and Momma at the Pearly Gates.

Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears: A tall tale sets off a chain of mishaps in the jungle. Will the jungle creatures ever get the story straight? A story, a story: Once, all the stories in the world belonged to Nyanme, the Sky God. He kept them in a box beside his throne. But Ananse, the Spider Man, wanted them, and caught three sly creatures to get them. Who's in Rabbit's house?: Rabbit has a problem: someone is inside her house and won't let her...

The letters of the alphabet race each other up the coconut tree. In a house filled with two parents, one girl, and two cats, counting has never been so much fun. Librarian Molly McGrew introduces a zoo full of animals to reading and they go simply wild about books. To avoid getting eaten, a resourceful inchworm must figure out how to measure a nightingale's song.