Up, Up, and Away [Paperback]

Ginger Wadsworth (Author), Patricia J. Wynne (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2009 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Each spring hundreds of spiders hatch from their egg sacs and begin their struggle to survive. They must protect themselves not only from predators, but also from their very own siblings! Ginger Wadsworth and Patricia J. Wynne chronicle the real-life drama of one spider as she eats, grows, spins a dragline of silk, and soars up, up, and away to find a home of her own.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3—This book describes the life cycle of the black-and-yellow Argiope aurantia (a type of garden spider). After a mother spider lays her eggs, the spiderlings hatch inside the egg sac and wait for spring to chew a hole and emerge into the sunlight. Seeking a permanent home, one young female "spins out silken thread into the breeze" and floats upward, ballooning gracefully on air currents, and eventually finds a safe haven where she matures, meets a mate (there is no mention of details), and lays her own eggs, beginning the cycle anew. The clear, simple text is perfectly accompanied by delicate, bright-hued watercolors. Kids who want more may enjoy the brilliant photos in Nic Bishop's Spiders (Scholastic, 2007), even if they are not ready for the more in-depth text. Wadsworth and Wynne have created a sturdy framework for introducing their subject's architecturally elegant orb web.—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY END --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

August 1, 2009 In the fall, a garden spider lays her many eggs and encases them in a sac of silk. In the spring, the young spiders emerge. The narrative follows a particular spiderling as she searches for food, avoids predators, and spins a silk thread that catches an air current, carrying her to a new locale, where she spins a web, eats her prey, creates her own egg sac, and dies. In the spring, the cycle begins again. Simply told with wellchosen words and phrases, the story reads aloud well. An appended page provides further information about the type of spider portrayed. Wynne uses watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil to add hue and shading to the precise ink drawings that define the spiders and their surrounding. The illustrations vary in tone from pastoral landscapes that set the scene to close-ups of dramatic escapes from predators that look monstrously large from the spider s point of view. A well-crafted nonfiction picture book. --Booklist

July 1, 2009 A mother spider lays her eggs and wraps them 'round and round with her strong silk thread.' Detailed illustrations and bold language make this tale of birth and death, autumn and spring, fresh, exciting, sensational as life. A great update for elementary school libraries and classrooms. --ForeWord Magazine

June 1, 2009 'When the warm winds blow' in spring, a host of tiny garden spiderlings clamber out of the silken sac that protected them over the winter, and one eluding hungry predators that include her own brothers and sisters spins a long strand that carries her away on the breeze. After a long season in her new home she spins her own egg sac, fills it and then dies 'as mother spiders do every year.' Wadsworth retraces this life cycle in simple, non-anthropomorphic language, and Wynne's pale, naturalistic illustrations are just as restrained and matter-of-fact. Her delicate watercolor, gouache, ink and colored-pencil images include just enough detail to focus readers' attention on what matters, from Spider's many excapes from predators to her own successful trapping of prey. Along with being good preparatory material for a shared reading of Charlotte's Web (obviously intentional, as this book is dedicated to E.B. White), this may draw budding naturalists looking for a less melodramatic alternative to Sandra Markle's Sneaky, Spinning Baby Spiders --Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580892221
• ISBN-13: 978-1580892223
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.9 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,237,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I thrive in my world of books, reading, research, and writing award-winning nonfiction titles. Biographies, natural history and American history are my main focus. Each of my books is for young readers ... and the young at heart! I have a reputation for being a research junkie and in my house, that means tiptoeing around boxes (my style of file cabinets) in my office, stacks of "very important" papers, and teetering towers of reference books that don't fit into my floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Despite my predilection for research, I have managed to publish 25 nonfiction books, and many others are still waiting to find that perfect home.

I come from a creative family and we all love the natural world. My father made his living writing westerns and then adventure novels for young readers. His father also wrote western novels and for the "Big Slicks." My mother was an artist and her father was director of the San Diego Natural History Museum. I have one brother who is a professional photographer and another who, along with his wife, are the publishers of many award-winning natural history books (Cachuma Press).

When I'm not working in my office, I often like to garden or head to the hills behind my house. I take my "writing buddies," Willa and Scout (my golden retrievers), and carry a pair of binoculars. While I hike, I like to think about my books. Sometimes I go further and visit our national parks. Many of my ideas come together after one of these "explores."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderfully descriptive and beautifully illustrated depiction of the life cycle of a spider, July 21, 2009

By 

A. Montero "mom of two" (new york) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up, Up, and Away (Hardcover)

My 6 year old daughter is a nature nut. A naturalist in the making, she loves to learn about nature and how to preserve it. We love Ginger Wadsworth's books because they are so entertaining while also educational for the entire family. Up, Up and Away continues the tradition. It describes the life cycle of a spider in such vivid detail, it's as though you are riding "spider-back" on it's back witnessing each life experience. From hatching and fleeing the sac, the threat of predators, to venturing out on their own only to start the cycle again. We look forward to the next adventure!

5.0 out of 5 stars Life journey of a garden spider, April 21, 2011

By 

Experienced Editor (Illinois, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Up, Up, and Away (Hardcover)

Remember the final scene in Charlotte's Web, when all Charlotte's babies say goodbye to Wilbur and blow away? This picture book shows what might have happened next. As hundreds of tiny spiders spill out of their egg sac, they spread out to search for food. The story focuses on a single female spiderling. The prose is both poetic and playful: "Spider grabs tight and spins a dragline, one sturdy silk thread to tie her to her rock. All around her, dozens of spiders bounce up and down like tiny yo-yos." Vigorous illustrations in watercolor, gouache, ink, and colored pencil add life and movement to Spider's story, from the greens of spring through the rich colors of summer to the yellow and brown of autumn. As winter approaches, Spider lays her own eggs. "She ties the sac tight, then dies, as mother spiders do every year," the text states matter-of-factly. This is not the end, of course. Come spring, hundreds of new spiderlings hatch, and in a nice turnabout, the text selects a male this time to spin a dragline and float away on the breeze.

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a charming book about the life cycle of the garden spider that will WOW the young student!, November 16, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up, Up, and Away (Hardcover)

A beautiful garden spider had just finished laying her eggs and was wrapping them up carefully so they would survive the winter. When she was finished, she tied "her egg sac tight to a twig." The colorful leaves were swirling and falling to the ground. Winter would soon come to the landscape. There were "hundreds of sisters and brothers" who were snug in their sac, but when spring arrived the warmth would be a signal the spiderlings that it was time to chew "a hole in the sac" and escape to the outside world. A sister spider tumbled out of the sac, quickly followed by her brothers and sisters.

Spider is quick and escapes the long, lunging tongue of a lizard, but some of her siblings are not as lucky. PLOP! Her "eight legs thrash as she turns and jerks, until she jams to a stop on top of a rock." She didn't want to tumble off the rock and quickly spun a dragline. Her siblings are moving and spinning all around her. They were all hunting for food, but other creatures view them as a tasty snack. A bluebird swooped down, but Spider escaped, rappelling down the side of the rock to hide in a crack. Predators abound, but Spider is hungry too and will roam until she finds a place of her own to build a web. No one had to tell her what to do. Before long she will find a home and winter will be upon her before she knows it.

This was a beautiful book that not only talks about the life cycle of the spider (arachnid), but will also teach children about the food web and the who-eats-who environment in nature. The story, along with the charming artwork, was fascinating and will be an excellent venture into nonfiction for the younger student. I loved the easy flow of the story and felt myself actual hoping that Spider would escape the clutches of her predators and make it to the next winter. In the back of the book is a page with more information about the Argiope aurantia, a "type of garden spider." This is a charming book that even the hard core spider hater just might enjoy!