Customer Reviews

Spiders' Secrets (DK Readers Level 3)

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

 

 

This is one book that I think belongs in every child's library. It is absolutely fascinating - from the tarantulas having cousins that eat birds and lizards in Australia (but if you watch Steve Irwin you already knew that!), to the fact that black widow spiders just live in Arizona, this is really a page turner and-a-half! Adults will love reading this to the younger ones and alone-readers will enjoy delving into these fun facts about creepy spiders! Did you know that one spider can change itself into an ant? I suppose my only complaint is the last sentence that has the spider saying something like: "come-on honey. Let's make spiderlings together!" I found that quite uncalled for in a child's reading book. Other than that, it's really, really fascinating reading about all the different spiders and it's one of the favorites in this house. Highly, highly recommend!

My sons like the DK Readers books. They already own books on snakes, bugs and bacteria...and they were excited to get a book on spiders.

However, this entry in the DK collection didn't meet their expectations. Young boys like jumping spiders and orb spiders that build intricate web designs. The headliner though is the tarantula -- the biggest spiders on the planet. And there just wasn't enough of them in this book to keep up my kids' interest.

The author, Richard Platt, doesn't understand his audience. There's eight pages on water spiders, a creature half the size of a postage stamp. That's the same number of pages given to tarantulas.

The oooh-ahhhh photo is on pages 14 and 15, a close-up of a Peruvian tarantula eating...a lizard!

And that summerizes the three-star review: a kids book on spiders needs lots of oooh-ahhh photos and this one comes up short.

Check out my other Amazon.com reviews of kids' books. Here's other DK Readers science books that I recommend:

* DK Readers: Slinky, Scaly Snakes (Level 2: Beginning to Read Alone) (Paperback)
* DK Readers: Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! (Level 2: Beginning to Read Alone) (Paperback)
* DK Readers: Munching, Crunching, Sniffing, and Snooping (Level 2: Beginning to Read Alone) (Paperback)
* DK Readers: The Secret Life of Trees (Level 2: Beginning to Read Alone) (Paperback)
* DK Readers: Plants Bite Back! (Level 3: Reading Alone) (Paperback)
* Micro Monsters: Life Under the Microscope (Paperback)

Even though this may be a childrens' book, I've learned more from this book than any other field book I've read.