Unlike Miss Muffet, I happen to like spiders and actually provide comfortable lodging to a great assortment of the industrious arachnids in my old house. One of Crabtree’s seven newly released Crabapple starter books by Bobbie Kalman offers a detailed look at these fascinating creatures. The book is a great source of information on everything from spider bodies, habits, and life histories to their wonderful webs and clever disguises. Readers will discover that more than 34,000 species of spiders have been identified, ranging in size from a pinhead to a frisbee. Some of the larger spiders eat animals as big as mice, birds, and frogs! And you’ll have to live in Antarctica if you want to avoid spiders since that’s the only place in the world where spiders have never been found.

Kalman’s clear, concise text is very easy to read without being oversimplified. The information is well organized and comprehensive and will be a great asset for student projects. Technical words are printed in bold in the text and words not specifically defined in the text are found in a brief glossary at the end. The short index is adequate although it does not list any specific kinds of spiders.

The beautiful photographs throughout the book offer excellent support to the text and will grab the reader’s attention. The book is attractively designed with lots of attention to details. However, I would have preferred it had the spiders in each photograph been identified.

Spider lovers will love this book. For the many spider haters in this world, perhaps this is just the book to change their mind. Although they may not like spiders any better after reading Web Weavers, at least they will understand them and hopefully respect them for the wonderful creatures that they are.