Spiders by Nic Bishop

This is an amazing information picture book about...spiders! It has anything and everything one could want to know about spiders including size, physical parts, hunting and feeding, web spinning, molting, life span, its predators, ways it protects itself, mating habits, procreation, and spiderlings. Bishop highlights an important sentence on each page through larger font and color. An index of topics, spiders, and photographs is included, as well as a glossary or terms.

But what is more than the words in this book are the astonishing photographs. They show extreme details of the spiders-fur, eyes, eggs, spiderlings, mating habits, webs, and more! Many of the photos show some very interesting perspective. Pictures are the main attraction of each page, but the text is placed over a colored block or the picture itself. Each illustration has a caption that identifies the type of spider and what it is doing. An impressive double foldout shows a jumping spider in various stages of leaping. Bishop includes summary of how he found the spiders and photographed them for this book.

What I Thought:
I’m not such a fan of spiders, but this book was mesmerizing. The pictures drew me into the work; I loved exploring each photo to see the difference in each spider. I would imagine this book would be a huge a hit with any kid who likes to read about spiders, they will be attracted to the pictures then fascinated by the text. The photos definitely make this book.

This book was a 2008 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, a 2008 ALA Notable book, along with other awards.

Want to see more? Check it out on Amazon: Spiders by Nic Bishop.

(And if you like this one, be sure to check out Frogs (available now) and Butterflies and Moths (to be released Spring 2009).