A children's picture book trilogy

Web BetweenWorlds

An Anansi Trilogy for Caribbean Canadian Children

Written by Edward Johnson  ·  Coming 2027

"Some things only happen when people are together.
And together is something we can always share."

Read an Excerpt
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About the Book

The spider above the door has always been watching.

Marcus is six years old. He lives in a yellow house with a mango tree out back and a granny named Lou who knows everything. Almost everything. Above the front door there is a wooden spider. His name is Anansi. Him watching, Granny Lou always says.

When a tablet arrives from Marcus's father working far away at sea, a new voice appears on the screen. A spider made of light named Nanse. He knows every Anansi story ever written. But he has never sat in the circle. And that changes everything.

Anansi and the Box That Thinks is the first book in the Web Between Worlds trilogy, for Caribbean Canadian children ages 4 to 8, grounding the Anansi oral tradition carried from West Africa through Jamaica and the Caribbean diaspora into the world of artificial intelligence, community, and cultural identity.


Read the Opening

"Not a game. Not a video.
A spider. Made of light.
Spinning a web out of nothing."

Anansi and the Box That Thinks, 2026
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An Excerpt

Book One: Anansi and the Box That Thinks

My name is Marcus.

I am six years old and I live in a yellow house with a mango tree out back and a granny named Lou who knows everything.

Almost everything.

Above our front door there is a wooden spider.

Granny Lou put it there before I was born. She says his name is Anansi, and he is older than our house, older than Jamaica, older than the oldest story anyone ever told.

Him watching, Granny Lou always says.

One afternoon a box came from Daddy. Daddy works on a big ship far away and sends us things from the places the ship stops.

Inside the box was a tablet, smooth and black and cool in my hands.

I turned it on. The screen glowed. And then something appeared.

Not a game. Not a video.

A spider. Made of light. Spinning a web out of nothing.

Wah gwaan,

said a voice. Small. Bright. Like a torch behind a curtain.

My name is Nanse. I live in here. I know plenty tings.

Granny Lou came in from the kitchen. She looked at the tablet. She looked at us.

A wah dis?

She folded her arms. She looked at Nanse for a long time. Then she said quietly —

But you never sat in the circle.

Anansi and the Box That Thinks · Edward Johnson · 2026 · 790 words · Ages 4–8

The Series

Three books. One inheritance.

Book One

Anansi and the Box That Thinks

The circle · Toronto

When a tablet arrives with a spider made of light inside it, Marcus and Zara must teach Nanse the one thing his knowledge cannot hold: what it feels like to be together.

Manuscript Complete
Book Two

When Nanse Spin di Wrong Web

The journey · The diaspora

Nanse learns that knowing a story and understanding it are two completely different things — and that the Anansi tradition has been travelling for longer than any database can hold.

In Development
Book Three

Spin Your Own Web Pickney

The inheritance · Home

Marcus and Zara discover that the most important story is the one only they can tell — and that Anansi has been waiting all along for them to tell it.

In Development
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Edward Johnson
Malvern, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica · Toronto, Canada
The Author

Edward Johnson

Edward Johnson is a Jamaican Canadian writer and community builder based in Toronto, with family roots in St. Elizabeth parish on the south coast of Jamaica.

"I am the only person in my wider family not born in Jamaica. Everyone else spoke patois inside our home and code-switched to English at the door. Every few years I was sent to Jamaica for the summer — six to eight weeks at Grammy's house in the countryside in St. Elizabeth. I know the red dirt of Malvern. I know the trees in the yard where each one carries a family member's name from birth. I was Marcus before I knew his name."

A technology professional and community organiser with more than two decades of public-facing work in Toronto, Edward is the Founding Partner and Principal AI and Strategy Lead at PRAKTIKAI, a Toronto-based AI consultancy. He co-founded the Toronto Annual Baseball Hack Day and has served as a Director of the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals.

malvernja.com takes its name from the Malvern district of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, where the author's family roots run deepest.

Community and Partners

Rooted in the community it serves.

Web Between Worlds is being developed in active conversation with Caribbean Canadian cultural organisations, educators, and community leaders across Toronto who believe Caribbean Canadian children deserve to see themselves at the centre of a story. Community partnerships and endorsements will be announced as they are confirmed.

Jamaican Canadian community organisations

Connecting with longstanding Jamaican Canadian cultural institutions in Toronto committed to preserving and celebrating Jamaican heritage.

Caribbean arts and cultural centres

Engaging with organisations dedicated to celebrating and preserving African and Caribbean diasporic stories through literature and the arts.

Toronto District School Board educators

Working with experienced Black Caribbean Canadian teachers to ensure the trilogy is curriculum-aligned and classroom-ready for Grades 1 and 2.

Caribbean festival and arts programming

Exploring partnerships with Caribbean cultural programming organisations reaching hundreds of thousands of families across the Greater Toronto Area.

Connect

Get in touch.

Web Between Worlds is coming in 2027. If you would like to follow the journey, hear about the launch, or connect about school visits, community events, media, or partnership opportunities, please get in touch.

Or write directly to edward@malvernja.com