The opening spread from my children's book "How Anansi Obtained the Sky God's Stories" published by Childrens Press, Chicago.
This is one of my favorite spreads. I took great delight in drawing that tree, it has a personality all by itself.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSdFxk6zhNc1IoiVRRZ2f0fA3ah_tRTcmr9a_wKhcta-k5sOUSgnGiTDdd0b70Bi0q6FxiCGYA3aFF4iiLwlA_XmM4rw8aWhpFmGfQZAqk5aipfzv39VY-D82rPHDJ1jIP_pzWMGPdw-E/s400/storytree-blog10.jpg)
I imagined a village nestled under a huge baobob tree, in my research I had come across some fascinating images. These trees provide shelter, wood, shade,medicine, and fruit. They are deciduous which explains why I kept finding images with no leaves in what I thought was a tropical country.
And I imagined the storyteller with an audience around a village fire in the early evening, the sun just down and a full moon is above.