The Diary of a Spider

Module 5 - February 15-21

Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin

Summary:
This is a fun story that depicts the life of a young spider from his own point of view. Each page is a diary entry of Spider's antics and adventures for the day. His adventures include vacuum drills, a run-in with a Daddy longlegs, and encounters with his best friends Worm and Fly. He also includes important spider 'life lessons'.

Thoughts of a Book Worm:
This is an adorable book that is a creative, fun new way to introduce children to the world of spiders. It is also a charming way to teach children to be able to look at situations through another's perspective, in this case - a spider! It is a simple read but the cleverly detailed illustrations add so much more!

Reviews:
"Cronin and Bliss repeat the comic ingredients that made Diary of a Worm so successful in this rib-tickling sequel. This time the diary is written by Worm's friend Spider and filled with similar verbal high jinks, deadpan humor and visual jokes that offer readers a whimsical glimpse of the world from a small creature's point of view. Endpapers feature photos of Spider's family as well as his favorite book (Charlotte's Web), his discovery of a "neat sculpture!" (a toilet bowl) and a playbill from his school's production of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (a review blurb by Worm says, "You'll dig this play"). Children will relate to the book's droll humor, as when Spider goes to the park with his sister ("We tried the seesaw. It didn't work") or when he takes his molted skin for show-and-tell. A slight story line about the tension between Spider's friendship with Fly and his Grampa's prejudice against all six-legged bugs threads together the amusing vignettes. (When Grampa says, "Without spiders, insects could take over the world," Bliss features a menacing alien bug as President of the United States.) This endearing book delivers a gentle message that comes through when Spider muses, "I wish that people wouldn't judge all spiders based on the few spiders that bite. I know if we took the time to get to know each other, we would get along just fine. Just like me and Fly." Ages 4-8(Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.-Publishers Weekly

"PreSchool-Grade 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." Reviewer: Beverly Combs Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. - School Library Journal

Suggested Activities:
This book could be used as a lead in about spiders. After reading the book, students can make a list of things that they learned about spiders by reading the entries. Afterwards, the class should go through the list and note which are real facts and which facts are just fantasy from the story.

As an enriching extension, students can pick and research a different type of insect. After researching the insect, they can create a diary using real facts and some fantasy.

Biography: Cronin, D. (2005). Diary of a spider. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.