  | Diary of a spider Author: Cronin, Doreen | |
| Price: $23.28 | ||
Summary:
A young spider discovers, day by day, that there is a lot to learn about being a spider, including how to spin webs and avoid vacuum cleaners.
| Illustrator: | Bliss, Harry |
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| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: LG Reading Level: 2.50 Points: .5 Quiz: 101233 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: K-2 Reading Level: 2.30 Points: 1.0 Quiz: 37139 | |
Common Core Standards
Grade K → Reading → RL Literature → K.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade K → Reading → RL Literature → K.RL Craft & Structure
Grade K → Reading → RL Literature → K.RL Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Grade 1 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 1.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 1 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 1.RL Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Grade 1 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 1.RL Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity
Grade 2 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 2.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 2 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 2.RL Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity
Grade 2 → Reading → CCR College & Career Readiness Anchor Standards fo
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (07/01/05)
School Library Journal (08/05)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (10/05)
The Hornbook (11/05)
Full Text Reviews:
Bulletin for the Center... - 10/01/2005 Having peered into vermiform secrets in Diary of a Worm (BCCB 10/03), Cronin now rips the lid off arachnid action by letting readers look at the personal jottings of a young spider. Our diarist describes family interaction (“Mom said I was getting too big for my own skin. So I molted”), school activities (“We had vacuum drill today”), playtime with friends (“Fly . . . got stuck in our web, and her mom had to come and get her”), and his secret fears (“People with big feet”), finishing with some life-affirming (well, spider-life-affirming) thoughts about human-spider relations. While it’s not quite as wrigglingly hilarious as its predecessor, it nonetheless hits squarely on the middle-grades funnybone, with comedy of viewpoint, comparative size, and natural history gleefully combining in a sparely texted yet broadly comic chronicle. Bliss’ line-and-watercolor art offers humorous portraits of personified spiders (headgear is key to spider individualization) and some excellent perspectival jokes (most notably the vertiginous view up the seesaw, each end bearing a disappointed spider sibling unable to shift the thing), plus a few speech balloons. An inviting, nonthreatening format, a dorky and appealing premise, and some good corny jokes—what more could a young reader ask? - Copyright 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
School Library Journal - 08/01/2005 PreS-Gr 3-Children who enjoyed Diary of a Worm (HarperCollins, 2003) will be enchanted by this artistic team's latest collaboration. This time, Spider is the star. Through his humorous diary entries, readers learn about typical events in the life of a young spider. When Spider's mom tells him he's getting too big for his skin, he molts. Fly's feelings are hurt by a thoughtless comment from Daddy Longlegs, and Spider tries to help. He is concerned that he will have to eat leaves and rotten tomatoes when he has a sleepover with Worm. Spider's school doesn't have fire drills; it has vacuum drills ("-vacuums eat spiderwebs and are very, very dangerous"). Grampa tells him that spider-fly relations have improved over the years and shares the secret of long life-don't fall asleep in shoes. The amusing pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoons, complete with funny asides in dialogue balloons, expand the sublime silliness of some of the scenarios.-Beverly Combs, Webb Middle School, Garland, TX Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. - Copyright 2005 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
