Spiders

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin

In Jenny Tesar's well-designed overview of spiders, full-color, annotated photographs and drawings illustrate and detail the lucid descriptions of spider anatomy, reproduction, growth, web building, and habitat adaptations. A trapdoor spider emerging from its hideout, newborn house-spiders milling about web strands, and individual body system diagrams are among the striking close-ups. Ms. Tesar concludes with a chart of seventeen spider families, their common members and distinctive features, a taxonomy of the animal kingdom, glossary and up-to-date list of relevant titles.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-A solid introduction to a fascinating predator. The succinct, well-organized text covers all the basics, such as physical and behavioral characteristics, diet, senses, reproduction, development of young, place in the food chain, etc. The amount of anatomical information is outstanding. For instance, in discussing spider senses, the text identifies the actual organs that pick up sounds and vibrations. A chapter on metabolism names the internal organs involved in digestion, excretion, and respiration, and explains how they function, with further elucidation by three clear diagrams of the systems described. The section on mating is just as detailed. Boxed inserts focus on the special characteristics of particular species. Excellent full-color photos accompany the text on about every other page, depicting over two dozen different species; a few do not identify the spiders depicted. Claudia Schnieper's excellent Amazing Spiders (Carolrhoda, 1989) includes more closeup photographs of individual species; its photos also display superior composition and contrast. However, Tesar's title will add depth to most natural history sections.-Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public Library