Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
David Kirk's eight-legged heroine becomes a mommy in this rollicking, rhyming picture book featuring the author's eye-popping artwork. A high adventure that brings eight new children into Miss Spider's life -- five of her own, plus three adopted bugs -- Kirk's tale follows the winsome arachnid as she saves her newest from being chicken food! Before Wiggle, Spinner, Pansy, Snowdrop, and Squirt are hatched, the new mom worries that she doesn't have what it takes. Afterwards, she's as happy as a lark with her five children. Unfortunately, precocious Squirt discovers an egg and sets out by himself to find its owner. Trying Snaky Woods only means danger for his egg, but Froggy Bog brings friends: three "bandit" bugs looking for a mama of their own. Snowfall and sadness almost get the best of Squirt, and he and his pals learn that his mystery egg really belongs to a chicken. Will the littlest spider become henpecked? Not if Miss Spider can help it -- she's been hot on his trail all along, and she saves the day, taking in the three orphan bugs as their mama, too. A fast-paced tale that stars one of the best bugs in children's books, this Sunny Patch story gives kids plenty of new friends to read about and welcome reassurance that moms always care for their love-bugs through thick and thin. Matt Warner
ANNOTATION
Miss Spider worries that she is not a good mother when one of her recently hatched spiderlings goes off to find where an egg belongs.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Miss Spider and Holley are buggy with excitement -- they're hatching a family of their own! Travel along with everyone's favorite eight-legged charmer and her children in this delightful adventure and discover how love at the heart of a family spins twice as much joy when it is shared with others.
David Kirk is the celebrated author of the best-selling Miss Spider, Little Miss Spider, and Biddle Books series, as well as the groundbreaking futuristic fable Nova's Ark. Kirk lives with his wife, Kathy, and his daughters, Violet, Primrose, and Wisteria, in upstate New York.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
David Kirk's famous arachnid and her family expand significantly in the paper-over-board Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids. Opening with the birth of five tykes for Miss Spider and Holley, one of the children, Squirt, finds an abandoned egg. He takes off alone to find its mother and, when Miss Spider comes to her child's rescue, her family grows even larger. An animated series of the same name will premiere in June. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Children's Literature - Louise Parsons
Miss Spider is ready to deliver her new spider babies, but she is nervous that she won't know how to care for them. She is also worried that she won't be a good mom. Squirt, Pansy, Snowdrop, and Spinner, her babies, arrive with great fanfare and much celebration. While they are out playing one day, Squirt discovers a lost egg. Without telling his mother, Squirt sets out on an adventure to find the missing mom. For Miss Spider, losing her spider baby confirms her suspicion that she is a bad mom. Fortunately, everything works out in the end. This book is another installment in the "Miss Spider" series. I confess, I never read the others. The colorful, computer generated covers and pictures always grabbed my attention. When I received this book I was excited to read it, but it did not live up to my expectations. There are too many characters and subplots to track, especially for young readers. Also, the book is written in rhyme. In order to keep rhyming the author arranges words in a slightly unusual manner which interrupts the flow of the story. 2004, Calloway & Kirk Company LLC/Scholastic, Ages 5 to 9.
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2-Miss Spider is back in another charming story. Like many expectant mothers, she worries about being a good parent. "`I'm not prepared,' Miss Spider sighed, and tied a silken string./`My babies are about to hatch, but I don't know a thing!'" Her worst fears come to life when her youngest bundle of joy, Squirt, finds a lost, brightly decorated (chicken) egg and sets out to find its mother. Along the way, he encounters many dangers, including an unexpected snowstorm and a hungry snake, but he makes a few friends, too. Miss Spider and her husband Holley catch up with Squirt and his friends just as they are nearing the hen coop and rescue him. About to return home with his mom and dad, Squirt realizes that something is not right, and hurriedly asks his new friends to join his family. The text is written in a light, singsong rhythm. There is plenty of fun wordplay that lightens the mood of Squirt's perilous journey. Kirk's highly stylized digital art, featuring eye-popping colors and 3-D characters, leaps off each page. Suited to reading aloud and sure to please.-Wendy Woodfill, Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MN Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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