Miss Spider's Wedding

Each page is a sumptuous immersion in splendid color and rich images. The verse narration is lively and wry. Miss Spider's path to her HEA is briefly blocked by a dangerously narcissistic suitor, but she prevails.

This book came home with my Kindergardener from the school library. We read it together and while the artwork is beautiful and the lyrical text impressive the topical content disturbed me. Was this book really written for children? Lines like, "Is she a beauty? Is she rich? And is she in the mood...?" make me wonder. Obviously my 5 year old didn't grasp the implication of the question and the argument could possibly be made that the speaker meant in the mood for marriage, but we all know that's not what was meant. Further, May's inference that Miss Spider was somehow inadequate for not yet being married smacks of the antiquated idea that a woman's worth resides in her status as a wife. This is reinforced when May doesn't think Holley show more good enough for Miss Spider. She doesn't appear to be looking out for Miss Spider's happiness so much as her social status. And then there is the wedding. Holley coos over his bride's beauty and how proud he is to be marrying her. Miss Spider, however, is pleased that, "of all the spiders in the world, he chose to be with me." Leaving the impetus of power squarely in the hands of Holley, not herself. These are all ideals women had hoped were dying and I am disturbed to find them alive and well in children's books. I still give the book a three, however, because the art is gorgeous and my child did enjoy it. show less

Brightly colored, very detailed, oil-on-paper illustrations make bugs look like people and tell the story; they even add to the story details that the words omit. Women are not meek, submissive creatures here. And all animals seem able to communicate and live in harmony if they choose. The quatrains are too complex for very young children; in fact the story is too sophisticated for them as well. Children have to be interested in mushy love and adventure stories to like this and understand clever allusions and slips of the tongue. Like most children's stories and old romantic comedies, no animals are killed in the making of this story. (Although the fate of the suave villain is unclear.)

This story follows Mrs. Spider as she dates many bugs and falls in love with a sweet and humble spider. Her friends try to set her up with a spider that is evil and only cares about what people are like on the outside. This book teaches an important lesson that it is more important what is on the inside than what is on the outside. This book is a good example of fantasy because spiders do not talk or get married.

Media: Oil painting

Uses: -introduction to poetry
- talking about character or values inside of us

I liked this book for three main reasons. First, I liked how the illustrations were all bright and colorful with no white spaces on each page. For example, the only white space throughout the story was on the pages that the author used to tell the story on. That made the reader realize when the author was going to start telling the story again, aside from the illustrations. Second, I liked how there was a lot of dialogue throughout the story with different characters communicating to each other, rather than the author just telling the story of what happened to the reader. For example, there was a ton of dialogue located throughout the story, but I love how the beginning of the story the author started out with the following dialogue show more “Good Morning, Miss! A lovely day.” Third, I liked how the author had one page and the illustrator had its own page with only overlapping a few times with words and pictures located on the same page. The big idea of this story was to follow your heart for who you love, and do not let other people’s opinions get in your way. show less

Genre: Fantasy
Review: This book takes a situation that is most relatable to humans: finding true love and makes it a story about spiders. Clearly, spiders do not have weddings, so it could not actually happen, But it's sense of sorrow, happiness, and true love are ones that all people relate to.
Media: Guache

This book explored the relationship between two spiders that is nearly destroyed by another spider. This book is a great fantasy in the respect that it's extremely realistic. However, I was not a fan of the book itself. The images were actually kind of scary, and I wouldn't personally want to read this to a class, but it may be useful if a student was experiencing a parent getting married/starting a relationship.