Review Henry Selick director of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach" The most charming spider you'll ever dine with!Lane Smith illustrator of "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" and "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" A gleefully sinister fable that spins its tale like a great old silent film. The kind one might only see in a haunted nickelodeon. I love the beautiful, dramatic, black-and-white illustrations."A gleefully sinister fable that spins its tale like a great old silent film. The kind one might only see in a haunted nickelodeon. I love the beautiful, dramatic, black-and-white illustrations."--Lane Smith illustrator of "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" and "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales""The most charming spider you'll ever dine with!"--Henry Selick director of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach" Read more About the Author Mary Howitt was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1799. With her husband, William Howitt, she wrote more than 180 books, including the poem The Spider and the Fly: An Apologue: A New Version of an Old Story, which first appeared in The New Year’s Gift.Tony DiTerlizzi is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator who has been creating books with Simon & Schuster for fifteen years. From his fanciful picture books like Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-this-World Moon Pie Adventure, Adventure of Meno (with his wife, Angela), and The Spider & The Fly (a Caldecott Honor book), to chapter books like Kenny and The Dragon and The Search for WondLa, Tony always imbues his stories with a rich imagination. His middle grade series, The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Holly Black), has sold millions of copies, been adapted into a feature film, and has been translated in more than thirty countries. You can visit him at DiTerlizzi.com. Read more
B**7
Great lesson beautifully illustrated
An excellent lesson in what happens when you trust a flatterer. The story (where the villain wins!) is creepy and mildly horrifying, but serves its purpose well in showing children what can happen to someone who listens to a self-centered liar who wants to use (and abuse) someone else. They get eaten! I think the shock value in this ending conveys this important lesson better than simply telling a child 'don't listen to strangers', 'don't go with a stranger', 'don't pay attention to flattery', etc.The illustrations are simply gorgeous. It's all in black and white, with an 'old movie' feel to it, which was simply perfect. The Spider is slick and slimy, yet handsome and aristocratic. The Fly is naive, pretty, shy, and perhaps a touch vain.All the way around, a wonderful (and wonderfully disturbing) story.
C**W
Excellent book with a good moral about trusting strangers
Purchased as a gift for a little girl who loves spooky stories. She found this in the local library and actually cried when it was time to return the book - so we had to get a her a copy. The black, white and silver illustrations are beautiful gothic works of art in their own right that are reminiscent of the 1920's. I am delighted by the fact that my 4 year old god-daughter loves this classic Victorian era poem so much that she will recite almost the entire thing and then explain that the moral of the story is to not trust strangers. Definitely not for all young children, as there is not a happy ending, but if your child enjoys eerie stories and you want to expose them to some classic literature - this book will definitely fit the bill!
U**F
Classic poem!
This is a picture book of the classic poem by Mary Howitt. (And it's in the public domain, so if you're curious about the content of this book you can google for it.)Fair warning to people with very young or sensitive children: This IS the poem that starts off "Will you come into my parlor..." and it ends exactly the way you'd expect a meeting between a spider and a fly to end. If you think you'll have a problem with this, please hit the back button NOW and find another book more suited for you and your child. Some children simply don't like this sort of thing, it *is* a little scary and intense, it *does* end with the fly's death, and you know your child best.For the rest of us, this is a great cautionary tale illustrated in the style of silent movies from the 20s, down to the clothes the buggies are wearing. The book is carefully, creepily sinister without being graphic, and there's a moral lesson here: If you already know somebody wishes you harm, don't listen when they start to flatter you! Heck, even if you're not sure, use your head!
J**N
This is a FANTASTIC book. Definitely a new favorite
This is a FANTASTIC book. Definitely a new favorite. The illustrations are absolutely fascinating, humorous, and add a dimension to this Victorian-era poem that bring it to life for readers who might otherwise glaze over their eyes at a reading of it. And the poem itself is more pertinent for our times than when it was written. I was so pleased to find this book- it will be in heavy rotation here for many years to come.
C**E
and of course she will be the pretty little fly
My 3 year old wants to read this. Every. Single. Night. She is forcing me to be the spider for Halloween, and of course she will be the pretty little fly. Kind of a morbid story, but it's great and the pictures really bring it to life. They capture the bug personalities incredibly well.
D**P
The Spider and the Fly: Purchased at Amazon.com
My mother read this to me when I was young and could quote it chapter and verse. Such a beautiful book with a very timely message. I just love the suave and very courtly spider who is trying to entice the fly dressed as a 1920's flapper into his home. A wonderful read and a lovely book.
E**R
Terrific book!
My daughter has loved this book since she was four, we've read it dozens of times. She gets so excited by the poetry of its language and the detail and whimsy in the images. Based on a 19th century poem that has long been one of my favorites, the depictions of the spider and the fly's interactions is entertaining and the moral lesson of the book is something you can have an honest and frank discussion about with young children about choosing friends wisely and trusting strangers.
D**E
Great read aloud
I used it as a read aloud and copied the poem for a close read for Halloween. Sweet!
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3 days ago
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