Characters: The Coyote, Red Fox Woman, Rabbit Woman, The Spider, Natives from different tribes including the Kiowa, Zuni, Cherokee, Hopi, Lakota and Muskogee.
Setting: The American South, Africa and the West Indies
Theme: Native American People, Legends and Folklore and Spiders.

Genre: Trickster tales from Native American people, Folktales and Legends.
Summary: This is a collection of fourteen trickster tales from different native American tribes have a common character the spider who is represents many things such as the mentor, trickster, helpful ally and a worker of miracles. These tales represent the struggles of many of the native people and show us how these tales are very similar to popular legends.
Golden quote: “But the medicine wheel didn’t hurt Tah’-lee because he was magical-he was part Sun and part human. Tah’-lee was split lengthwise into two boys. They were not twins, but half-boys with magical powers-one of the sky, the other of the earth. When Grandmother Spider saw she had two boys instead of one, she cried, “Oh, no! It was enough taking care of one boy. Now I have two boys to take care of!”
Audience: Children ages 5 to adult

Curriculum ties: Native American History-students can explore website and read about the lifestyle of the Native people and compare and contrast with the tales. Using map students can trace and label the cities and areas where the Native people lived. Students can use this map to see how the native American lands have been transformed into cities and how native American have been pushed away from their lands into reservations.

Personal response: This collection of Native American trickster tales is great because Native Americans stories are not very popular among young readers and it offers them an introduction to explore the rich Native American History that has been removed from our everyday history class. The significance of this collection is that it preserves the values and gratitude of the Native Americans. It should also help readers give respect and support to the Native American community for their struggle to maintain their culture.

Readers will be surprised and pleased with the arachnid characters, female and male, presented in this collection of 14 Native American tales. Tribes from various areas of North America have their own unique legends, and the spiders in these one to five page stories take on a variety of roles. Striking, full-color illustrations by Native artists accompany the stories.

Spider Spins a Story includes fourteen myths from different Native North American Indian tribes. The book is an excellent adventure through the different cultural worlds with one theme in common, the spider. The spider plays a role in each of the stories in the book. For example, in Rainbow Makers from the Achomawi tribe, the spider brothers help stop the flooding rain with the help of the community of animals and humans.