About Arachnids: A Guide for Children

by Cathryn Sill, John Sill (Illustrator)

Overview

Creepy crawlies and eight-legged wonders abound in this classroom favorite and beginner's guide to arachnids.

In this book from the acclaimed About... series, educator and author Cathryn Sill uses simple, easy-to-understand language to teach children what arachnids are, how they live, what they eat, and how they reproduce.

With beautifully detailed, realistic paintings, noted wildlife illustrator John Sill introduces readers to a diverse range of arachnids, from the poisonous brown recluse spider to the innocuous giant desert hairy scorpion.

An afterword provides more details about each species featured in the interior.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561453641
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	03/07/2006
Series:	About. . . , #7
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.06(w) x 8.48(h) x 0.17(d)
Lexile:	460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Cathryn Sill, a graduate of Western Carolina University, was an elementary school teacher for thirty years. She is the author of more than twenty-five prize-winning nonfiction picture books about animals and habitats. She has created three nature series especially for pre-K and kindergarten students. She lives in North Carolina.

John Sill holds a BS in wildlife biology from North Carolina State University. Combining his knowledge of wildlife and artistic skill, John has achieved an impressive reputation as a wildlife artist and received many awards. He has illustrated more than twenty-five books in the About... and About Habitats series. He lives in North Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

"This colorful volume is well-designed for children intrigued by the eight-legged creatures and for teachers planning preschool and primary-grade units on arachnids." —Booklist

From the Publisher

K-Gr 3-In this addition to the Sills' nature series, 15 full-page watercolor paintings depict 16 kinds of arachnids. The text briefly describes either a physical or behavioral characteristic common to all arachnids, or a special characteristic of the one shown. For instance, the line accompanying a painting of a brown daddy longlegs reads, "Arachnids have eight legs-" while the sentence, "Many arachnids spin silk to help them capture food" appears opposite a portrait of a golden silk spider in the middle of its web. In an afterword, short blocks of additional text offer more detail and miscellaneous bits of information. The primary focus here is on the paintings. The watercolors of invertebrates in natural settings are attractive and realistic, reflecting the messy details of nature-leaf litter, leaves with holes chewed in them, etc. However, the artwork isn't always entirely successful. For instance, the text states that arachnids have "-two main body parts," but it is hard to see two distinct parts in the painting of the desert tarantula since it shows only a side view of the spider and its front legs and carapace are virtually the same color. The depictions of ticks and garden spiderlings are so small that it is difficult to distinguish characteristics. Margery Facklam's Spiders and Their Web Sites (Little, Brown, 2001) provides more thorough descriptions of six of the same spiders, plus the daddy longlegs, and is illustrated with clear close-up drawings.-Karey Wehner, formerly at San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

The Sills continue their tour (About Fish, not reviewed, etc.) through the animal kingdom, introducing 16 spiders, mites, scorpions and other arachnids with full-page portraits, captioned by one-lined general observations: "Most arachnids are predators, hunting for and eating smaller animals." The presentation is somewhat uneven; though most of the paintings are meticulously exact close-ups. Both the Eastern Wood Ticks on a rabbit's ear and the young Garden Spiders launching themselves into the air on strands of silk are too tiny to make out useful details, and the follow-up notes at the end gather fascinating facts but do not consistently specify size, range, or, sometimes, even diet for the chosen examples. Still, the scenes of a (harmless) Daring Jumping Spider perched atop a bottle cap, or the (far from harmless) Brown Recluse lurking in an empty shoe, along with an array of fearsome-looking scorpions, should give casual browsers a delighted shiver or two. And young readers in general will benefit from the reminder (or news) that spiders have such a variety of close relatives. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews