Spiders

Spiders is a nonfiction book about spiders for children who are fascinated with this topic or need to gather information for a school project. The book clearly defines what spiders are – part of the arachnid family and not insects. Interesting facts, such as “You are never more than 3 metres away from a spider”, are sprinkled throughout. While this title is educational, it uses age-appropriate language to describe the different types of spiders. The layout also makes this a suitable read for children ages 6-8. Because the book includes a good mix of text and photographs, readers will not feel overwhelmed by the text. Brightly illustrated and bright text colours really help point to highlight specific facts. This book “pops” when one flips through it, and its use of colour will cause readers’ eyes to immediately gravitate towards certain words. Even those who are still learning to read will get a good grasp of the subject matter because of the colourful text and photographs.

Spiders is a good fact book for children who love all things about nature. After reading it, they will be able to recognize some of the various types of spiders, and, of course, know which poisonous ones to stay away from. While one can tell that the photographs have been carefully chosen, the close-up photos may still scare those with a spider phobia. Unless they have a school project, it’s likely only children who are interested in spiders will pick up this title. Nonetheless, in terms of content, Spiders is...