It doesn’t matter where you are, inside or outside, there’s a good chance that a spider is watching you! Unless you are in Antarctica. For the most part, those spiders are perfectly content to go about their day eating garden pests and leaving cobwebby silk strands in the corner of your bathroom. But somehow, spiders get a “spooky” reputation. So, let’s take a closer look at them!
Spi-ku: A Clutter of Short Verse on Eight Legs by Leslie Bulion
From leafy treetop to forest floor, this book introduces readers to happy spiders, diving spiders, social spiders, and more. Each spread features poems and information about how they kill and digest their prey, engage in foolery – and even how they become prey themselves. Back matter includes hands-on spider activities and how to write your own spider poems.
Jumping Spiders (Creepy Crawlers in Action: Augmented Reality series) by Sandra Markle
Six chapters introduce the jumping spider’s world, with information on the spider from the inside out. Because jumping spiders spend a lot of time hunting, readers are invited on a hunting expedition – from the spider’s point of view. Readers with smart phones and the appropriate app can scan Augmented Reality icons to watch the spiders “come to life.”
Super Spider Series (Black Widow, Cave, Funnel-Web, Tarantulas, Trapdoor, & Wolf Spiders) by Lisa J. Amstutz
These hi-low or younger MG books each focus on a specific spider and combine fascinating photographs, wonderfully concise, detailed information on each spider’s life-cycle and unique characteristics, a warning (when necessary), as well as a fun activity, jokes, glossary, and additional resources.
The Secret of the Scuba Diving Spider … and more! by Ana Maria Rodriguez
Readers are taken into the field with animal biologists to find the diving bell spider, the only spider that lives underwater. Only as long as a grain of rice, they’re hard to find in the water and they are becoming rare because of habitat loss and pollution. In addition to diving bell spiders, readers meet whistling caterpillars, signal-jamming bats, and zombie ladybugs. https://archimedesnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/01/scuba-diving-spiders-and-hugs.html
Spiders! Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle
At this very moment there may be several spiders lurking close to you. The good news: they are so focused on living their own lives that they really don’t want to have anything to do with us. An attitude that has served spiders well for the past 380 million years or so. Close-up portraits reveal things you usually don’t get close enough to see.
Spiders: We’re Not Scary, We’re Amazing by Ruth Owen
Written as an address to the readers, this ingenious hi-low or younger MG book uses amazing photographs, microscopic images, and illustrations, along with an illustrated, lab coat-wearing “spider-scientist,” and bite sized bars of text to examine the physiology, special traits, life cycle, actual danger, science behind our fears of spiders, and some absolutely amazing spiders.
The Secret World of Spiderwebs by Jan Beccaloni, illustrated by Namasri Niumim
Using conversational text and visually and tactilely engaging close-up illustrations (with a couple of stunning rotated spreads), this book highlights the beauty, strength and mysteries of thirteen types of webs and the 20 spiders (listed in the “spider spotters guide” at the end) who build these special webs. Like the Amazon social spider’s colony web or a lampshade web in a cave. A step-by-step guide walks the reader through web building, and a series of close-ups explore spider anatomy, how spiders make silk, and some of the different types of spider silk.
Spidermania: Friends on the Web, by Alexandra Siy
This is a great book for younger MG readers. It begins by clarifying the differences between spiders and insects and then dives into spider lives. The book introduces readers to a diversity of spiders, and shows off their web skills. Stunning photographs and brightly colored electron micrographs show spider eyes and claws up close.
BIOGRAPHY
The Spider Lady: Nan Songer and Her Arachnid World War II Army, by Penny Parker Klostermann, illustrated by Anne Lambelet
Entomologist, Nan Songer collected butterflies and moths, beetles, caterpillars and spiders. But instead of killing and mounting them in display boxes, she kept a living collection in jars all over her house. When a friend mentioned he used spider silk to replace the crosshairs in his surveying scope, Nan wondered whether she could harvest spider silk and sell it. This book takes readers into her lab, showing her experimental process and the important role her research played as the US headed to war.
GREAT GUIDES
Spiders (North American Field Guide) by Samantha S. Bell
A browsable guide containing the spider’s common and scientific names, “Fun Fact” blocks, extra information sidebars on webs, diving, and vision, amazing photographs, “How to Spot” sections with individual spider statistics, and succinct paragraphs about eighteen categories of spiders. Including crab spiders, a cat-faced spider, and a hammock spider.
Spiders of the World: A Natural History edited by Norman I. Platnick
Beginning with a detailed diagram and electron microscope images of a spider’s anatomy, it explores specific orders and subgroup of spiders. Stunning photographs accompany short descriptions, world-wide distribution maps, and characteristics lists for well over hundreds of spiders, including Spitting, Ogre-faced, Pirate, Diving Bell, Green Lynx, Beach Wolf, and ant-mimicking and beetle-mimicking Jumping spiders. It is a fascinating read, with a glossary, additional readings, and an index.
This month’s STEM Tuesday book list was prepared by:
Sue Heavenrich is an award-winning author, blogger, and bug-watcher. A long line of ants marching across the kitchen counter inspired her first article for kids. When not writing, she’s either in the garden or tromping through the woods. Her books for middle-grade readers include Funky Fungi: 30 Activities for Exploring Molds, Mushrooms, Lichens, and More and Diet for a Changing Climate. Visit her https://www.sueheavenrich.com/
Maria is a children’s author, blogger, and poet who is passionate about making nature and reading fun for children. She was a judge for the Cybils Awards since 2017 and a judge for the #50PreciousWords competition since its inception. Two of her poems are published in The Best of Today’s Little Ditty 2016 and 2014-2015 anthologies. When not writing, critiquing, or reading, she bird watches, travels the world, bakes, and hikes. Visit her at https://www.mariacmarshall.com
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