Customer Reviews

Spiderology (Backyard Buddies)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is our second encounter with the Backyard Buddies series and I have to say, I'm quite pleased with both. Spiderology offers both explanations and hands on activity opportunities for kids that are simple but engaging for kids ages 4-8 (definitely should be parent supervised since we're talking about spiders here). Spiderology starts out with the basics of what Spiderology is and a brief bit about where to find spiders, their homes, and an activity designed to give kids an up close look at how spiders live -- the Spider Inn. From there it goes into several pages of activities that kids can try some are hands on, but at this point most are imagination exercises...most of the hands on and experimenting exercises come later in the book after more factual information about spiders has been given.

Spiderology encourages a hands exploration, fact finding, and questioning by children well before they get into the more lengthy scientific information on spiders, which I think is good...I mean, the book DOES give out some basics and minor warnings about poisonous spiders before sending kids out to explore habitats and spiders themselves. So they aren't going out blind, but this "phase" is designed to stimulate a keen interest, encourage children to formulate questions which they will likely be able to answer either directly through the reading or as a result of experiments done later in the book. My only concern is that the book did an EXCELLENT job of pointing out that most spiders are perfectly safe to watch and handle...only a tiny fraction of spiders pose any threat to humans...BUT, children are more susceptible to poisons, so I feel that the author and publisher should have made more effort to warn about this...at the very least, there should be a recommendation BEFORE kids get started on Spiderology, to look up (with pictures), either on the internet or in another book) which spiders are poisonous, especially for YOUR area where you live...kids should SEE what the poisonous spiders in their geographical area look like and be warned about their habitat prior to doing any of the activities in this book. Additionally, while I normally champion the idea of children doing as much as they can on their own...with animals, particularly any that have the potential to be poisonous, there should be a recommendation to get parents help in collecting spiders...at least a recommendation that a parent or other adult approve the critter before it's scooped up in a container for observation. While this is a concern for me...it's common sense too, if your kids are checking out books about insects, specially spiders or snakes, parents would be wise to point out (often) cautions and be watchful of their children trying to handle them.

What I like about this series is the way the information is presented, because the children are encouraged to gather information, formulate questions and do some minor observation prior to doing the reading in the book, they come into it with a sense of curiosity and with their interest already peaked...where they might not be if they were fed only dry factoids about spiders...with this approach, I think kids would be ready and willing to dive into the leaning process.

Overall, there is a lot of information in this little book (48 pages) and I really like that most of the information is packed in between hands on activities for kids to try so that the process of discovering more about spiders isn't just a bunch of facts in a book. The first part of the book is exploration and fact gathering (direct, hands-on), the second part of the book is facts and scientific information, and the final section is experiments and findings of the authors students have done in the past...all with illustrations and full color photos to enhance the learning experience! This is an excellent way for kids to see how experiments are done and how the results are recorded/reported. In Spiderology, kids can see, up close and personal how slive live, how they move, what their outer body structure is like, what they feel like and much more. I give it four stars, a great resource for your budding Spiderologist! I recommend this in conjunction with two or three additional books on worms since the information is interspersed, readers might not key in on the information they want as quickly as they might if it were all together, but for hands on activity and encouragement, this books is a class above!

This book must be removed from circulation as it could result in the injury or death of a child. No one should buy it or give it to a child for any reason.

Part of the "Backyard Buddies" series, and filled with photos of children with spiders on their hands, as on the cover, this book talks about female Black Widow spiders under the heading "Fashionable." It talks about these spiders as being well dressed and moves on. There is nothing that remotely would indicate to any reader that Black Widow spider bites kill 4-5% of their victims. Or that they inject a nuerotoxin that requires immediate medical attention.

The standard would be more along these lines: "The black widow is not aggressive. It will, however, bite instinctively when touched or pressed.

Be very careful when working around areas where black widow spiders may be established. Take proper precautions-wear gloves and pay attention to where you are working. Black widow bites are sharp and painful, and the victim should go to the doctor immediately for treatment."

Including the Black Widow in the manner they do in a book about "backyard buddies" is like selling marbles to infants, the only question is when will someone die. The people most likely to die from a Black Widow bite are the elderly and young children...

This book should be removed from all homes, schools, and stores.