Seven Spiders Spinning is an entertaining, original and funny story, that will appeal to 3rd and 4th graders. However it has some major issues. Even though it is not meant to be a deep book, the characters were very shallow and stereotyped. A sweet naive young teacher, a boys and a girls clique, a bullying head of the girls clique, etc. Please! That wasn't necessary to tell the story! The cruel ways in which most of the spiders died were equally unnecessary and not a very good example for children. I have not read the rest of the series, but I hope that in the subsequent books some of these problems are ironed out.
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I really enjoyed reading this story because it was entertaining and fast-paced. The story promotes a sense of family when one of the spiders is kidnapped and the other siblings go off to rescue her. The story also encourages readers to use their imaginations because all is not what it seems in the book. The reader must also use their background knowledge and prediction skills to enjoy the story because it has twists and turns. There are no illustrations in the text and reads more like a young adult chapter book. ( )