Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin

Book Genre: Fiction

Publising Info: Joanna Cotler Books, Happer Collins Publishers (32 pages)

Awards or Honors: Book Sense Honor Book, Book Sense Pick, Kirkus Editor’s Choice, Publishers Weekly Best Book. Amazon.com Editors’ Pick

Summary: This is a cute story about 5 months in a spider's life set in diary form. Spider begins his diary with March 1st and ends it with August 1st. He makes several entries in the diary. Here is a brief description of each: he tells about Gandparents Day at school, how he and his friend Fly get along, catching the wind to travel, visiting the park with his sister, Safety Day at school, a sleep over at Worm's house, molting, Show & Tell at school, meeting with Daddy Longlegs, Grampa visiting France, spider life lessons, things that are scared by Spider, and things that Spider is scared of. He ends the diary by letting people know that we shouldn't be afraid of spiders. We could all be friends just him and Fly.

Personal Rating & Reason: ***Good. This is a nicely illustrated book, but at times it could be hard for a young reader to follow along. It gives some very educational information about the differences between spiders and insects. It is humorous at times, especially the entries that concern the park. I know it is labeled for K-3, but I think that grades 4 & 5 would better understand some of the humor.

Reading Level: K-3 (2.5 AR)

Interest Level: ages 4-8 years

Possible Uses: This story could be used across the curriculum in several ways.
Math: You could tie the story into morning capet time and calendar activites. Copies of a blank calendar could be made and the students could place entries on it.
Writing: A Flow Map could be create by using the diary entries. The students could also keep a journal diary and make entries periodically. Tied to science you could create a Tree Map about spiders and their characteristics. Then let the student create sentences from the Tree Map.
Art: Students could create spiders from construction paper. The teacher could help the students make webs from paint, small marbles and construction paper. You could also make a short diary of a spider book that the children illustrate with their thumb prints as spiders.
Science: One activity in science would be to go into more detail of the differences between spiders and insects. You could also use the book to compare how the story is realistic or unrealistic. Maybe list facts and fiction.

Potential Problems & Difficulties: The type setting in the book is a little hard for young readers to follow (not all left to right across the page).