Spiders (Nic Bishop)

Dazzling full-color close-ups of over 15 arachnids including a freeze-frame series of a jumping spider hurtling across the gap between two blades of grass provide eye-catching visuals from cover to cover. The chatty text accompanying these spiffy shots is generic information printed on colored pages, with dominant factoids set in larger, more colorful type e.g., "Fishing spiders rest at the water's edge with one foot on the surface." The excellent author's note is a great introduction to the minutiae of a nature cameraman at work, providing a sense of real-time research to the entire book. While more simplistic than Seymour Simon's equally attractive "Spiders" (HarperCollins 2003), this title is an attention-grabber and, paired with Michael Elsohn Ross's "Spiderology" (Carolrhoda 2000), it might have kids poking into basements and peering into leaf litter to observe these fascinating arachnids caught in mid-skitter by Bishop's sensitive lens."Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY" Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.