Diary of a Spider

Following up on their humorous Diary of a Worm, author Doreen Cronin and illustrator Harry Bliss present this picture-book diary of Worm's best friend, Spider. Opening in March (just like its predecessor), Spider's diary chronicles his home and school life, and his friendships with Fly - a departure from days of old, when spiders and flies were terrible enemies - and Worm.

Although there is less of an ecological theme here than in Diary of a Worm, the same combination of humorous story and appealing artwork can be found in Diary of a Spider. Once again, I found myself amused by some of the details in Harry Bliss's decorative end-papers - Spider's favorite book is Charlotte's Web!, he thinks that a toilet bowl is a massive sculpture - and show more thought that the subtle social commentary, as it concerns tensions and prejudice between spiders and flies, was well done. Recommended to anyone looking for fun picture-books, or who enjoyed Cronin and Bliss's earlier title. show less

This is the diary ... of a spider. But don't be worried – he's more scared of you and your gigantic shoe! Actually, he's a lot like you. He goes to gym class and has Grandparents' Day at school. But he also spins sticky webs, scales walls, and takes wind–catching lessons. Lucky for him, his best friend is a fly! Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss, the team behind the #1 bestselling Diary Of A Worm, spin a hilarious tale about the upside–down web world of an eight–legged charmer and his unlikely friend, Fly.

I have no idea why my two-year-old grandson loves this book so much. He asks me to read it repeatedly. I would think that much of this book's humor would be over my toddler's head, but he sees a lot to love on its pages. We often talk about the pictures as well as read the story line. This is a book that I, at age 67 years, also enjoy reading. I guess I now need to look for Scholastic's other book entitled Diary of a Worm. Ha!

This book (and also Diary of a Fly and Diary of a Worm) aren't just for children; in fact, children won't get all the sublte humor contained within this book. The story is a day in the life, as seen from the spider. Cronin has "humanized" the spider only so children can relate, they have a bed, dinner, a home, etc. The spider takes his molted skin for show and tell at school and the grandfather spider is very prejudiced against insects, claiming they want to take over the world. A good moral contained in this book, "I hope the world doesn't judge us spiders by just a few who bite."

She makes the spider so realistic and personified which I believe is what makes the children relate. He goes to class and has grandparents day and so forth. Although, he is afraid of beings stepped on! His friend is a fly which tells children that we don't all have to be the same to be friends.

I loved this book (even though i despise spiders!). It is written in a diary format of a little spider as he goes through each of his days. In the diary entries, the author writes facts about spiders. For example, one diary entry reads, "May 7: Mom said I was getting too big for my skin, so I molted." The spider does daily activities just like any other child would so this book is easily relatable. The pictures are also very kid friendly and really make you feel like you're living in a bug's life! The message in this book is to give children facts about spiders presented in a fun and unique way that will keep children interested and engaged.

Spider had a good day. Animal lives are cool for kids because they are so weirdly different in a way that expands horizons in that classic "take you outside yourself" way that novels are supposed to but at an age where kids aren't really able yet to evaluate the relatively nuancedly weirdly different lives of their fellow humans.