#19 – Diary of a Spider

Diary of a Spider

Written by: Doreen Cronin

Illustrated by: Harry Bliss

Scholastic

2005

38 Pages

Fantasy Book

            This book is set up like journal entries of a young spider. Each day Spider shares information about his day and facts about spiders. Spider talks a lot about his family and even more about his Grandpa.  Grandpa teaches him a lot of cool things about spiders. Grandpa teaches him that spiders are not insects and that spiders keep insects from overpopulating. He also takes an exciting vacation to France. He even sends Spider a post card.  Spider also talks about his friends, fly and worm. Spiders stories also give the reader extra information about flies and worms. For example, spider talks about eating leaves for dinner at worm’s house.

            Dairy of Spider’s artwork is done with watercolor and ink. The illustrations are single pages and the text is informal. The outlines in the images are very light and thin. They appear like they are done with pencil strokes.  The pictures are very detailed, and a lot of texture is shown. Proportions are used to show how small spider is in comparison to his surroundings. A lot of colors are used but they remain very natural. The colors flow with nature setting that Spider lives in. The illustrations are very funny and entertaining.

            Doreen Cronin wrote the New York Times best-selling Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider is a great addition to the series. This is a great book for beginning elementary grades. It could be used to introduce a science lesson on spiders. The book shares a lot of interesting facts for younger children. It could also be used to talk about journaling. It has good examples of entries. Students could make their own journals in the same format.