Customer Reviews

The Deadlies: Felix Takes the Stage

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4 star:		(2)
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Reason for Reading: I enjoy the author's books and animal fantasy.

This is a cute, funny book filled with lots of interesting information on brown recluse spiders and spiders in general. The Deadlies, a family of brown recluse spiders minus a dad, live in the basement of a philharmonic hall. The mother is very strict that the kids keep themselves hidden as their venomous nature scares humans so much that even the sight of them will bring in the dreaded E-Men to exterminate them all; something the mother has lived through in the past. But Felix is different from the others, he loves the music and has an artistic bent. He finds himself pulled towards the stage at night when the conductor is working there alone at night but of course the dreaded thing finally happens one night and he is seen. Within hours the exterminators arrive and the Deadlies are on the run to find a new home. They temporarily find shelter next door at an old antiques store but head off to the Boston Public Library where the mother lived with her own mother before she passed away.

A fun, exciting story that any animal fantasy fan will be sure to enjoy. Written for a younger crowd than Lasky usually writes for, the story is more humour and adventure based with little fantasy other than the world in which spiders can talk. They have themselves a great sidekick in Fatty the Cat, the theatre's backstage cat who is the children's godspider and accompanies them on their journey. A silly, fun story that doesn't resort to any gross spider facts but instead opens up an entertaining world of spider facts that will fascinate boys and girls alike. I look forward to reading the next book in the series: Spiders on the Case.

Kathryn Lasky's THE DEADLIES: FELIX TAKES THE STAGE receives Stephen Gilpin's fine drawings as it tells of a nice family of polite spiders - who happen to be toxic. It's not their fault but the humans near them just don't understand. Trouble begins when Felix Deadly tries to meet his human hero, only to have him faint from fright. A fine story of misunderstanding evolves.

Felix and his family, of brown recluse spiders, overcome obstacles & exterminators in their adventurous search for a safe place to call home. The books is perfect for 3rd graders, it touches on history, science of arachnids and Greek mythology. Looking forward to the next installment.