Spider Books

Crickwing is a very artistic beetle. Everyone calls him that because his wing got twisted in a fight with a frog. If you get mad easily, Crickwing knows how you feel.
When the army ants attack, Crickwing uses his artistic talent to scare them away. If you like bugs, this book is for you.

Important life lessons about how a person with mobility challenges or other physical challenges might feel marginalized and try to find a special niche in life. Crickwing uses his crafting abilities to save the day. A lovely, deep story about an ancient insect. Perhaps a little too mature for 6 year olds, but they love the story and beautiful illustrations. I expect the "lessons" to sink in over many readings. Janell Cannon is truly gifted.

This is a wonderfully told story concerning being a bully. The art work is absolutely the best and is quite eye catching. I have found this book quite useful is talking to children about being a bully and being bullied. The author is qutie on the mark, and while showing a dry humor, certainly gets the seriousness of the situation across in a very good lesson. The detailed illustrations would all be able to stand a lone a works of art. I could recommend this one for primary school counsellors and parents who may have a child with this particular problem. Recommend this one highly.

The story is about a cockroach that has a crocked wing and is always being picked on. To keep his mind off his problems he always makes beautiful art work out of his food. He decides to pick on things smaller than him after a bit. He picks on the ants. When the ants are in trouble he decides to help them out in a neat way!



What did you like or not like about the book?

The books main character is a cockroach. I really don't like roaches at all but the book portrays this roach as lovable and sympathetic.



The book is marvelous. It is extremely readable for young (3 - 6) year olds, and the artwork is beautiful, with vivid colors and expressive characters. Best of all, the story line is appropriate, with a message that is easily understood.

Crickwing is a cockroach who is grumpy because a toad have him a crooked wing and it aches. Crickwing likes to play with his food before eating it, but several nights in a row, his meal is stolen from him by large critters like lizards or monkeys before he gets a chance to dig in. Crickwing vents his frustration by torturing leaf cutter ants, but he gets in deep trouble, finding himself elected by the leaf cutter ants as the peace offering for the army ants. The story has a number of points that some kids, especially young ones, may find rather scary. But other kids may enjoy the tension. At the end of the story are some feature articles that provide more factual information about cockroaches and ants. The book has about 1600 words.

my mom read it to me and i liked it alot.
it mad me laugh.
i like charlie becuz that is my name.

I get great pleasure reading good children's books. "Don't Bug Me" is a sweet, humorous, thoughtful book, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Parents will enjoy this as much as their kids. Although it is about Bugs, that proverbially school project, (and we all had one like it), I found there is allot more to it. As I read about Megan and her brother, Alexander, and their sibling rivalry, it reminded me of my own childhood. I especially enjoyed the friendship that grew between Megan and Charlie. I was impressed by the author's ability to demonstrate a healthy way to solve a disagreement between Megan and her parents. It is very subtle lesson, kids might miss it, but it is very constructive.
And the bug storyline is so clever, honest, thoughtful and funny, who knew there was so much to know about bugs! The entire family can enjoy the story together.

This book is about Megan trying to collect bugs for her project. She is being "bugged" by that and a boy at school named Charlie who is causing trouble for her. Oh yeah and her brother Alexander who buries her bugs really "bugs" her too. In this novel Belinda, Megan's friend believes that Charlie likes Megan, but is that true? You'll have to fid out in this high-speed funny book. The book really got me glued to the pages, I hope it also will do the same thing for anyone else who reads this great book.

I really liked this book. I didn't like I would like it, because I think bugs are ikky. But Megan and Charlie and Alexander were such cool chraratrers that I kept reading even tho when Takmika caught the roach it made me shudder. I liked how Charlie told Alexander why we should study bugs. I liked how Alexander told Charlie that bugs were ok and why he liked them. We can learn from bugs and we can learn from each other. I liked Charlie's present to Megan at the end. I wonder if Megan and Chalrile will be freinds when they get older? Oh yeah, I liked it when everybgdy was trhowing soup around at lucnh trying to get the bug out of Rita's soup.

I think that every one should read don't bug me even sixth graders. I read it in 2 days that is how much i liked it. so make sure you read Don't Bug Me!! By Pam Zollman My favorite part is here is the part....

Belinda laughed."You named it?"
"I name all my bugs," Tamika said
"So how are you going to kill it?" i asked.
"in the freezer,"she said "Ijust can't do it any other way."
Please help my friend out and buy this book. believe me you will laugh..

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Florrie Binford-Kichler, Founder of Patria Press, Inc.- an award-winning independent publisher and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

This series of books is absolutley wonderful and I recommend them to any parent or grandparent, especially this book!! It teaches children how to be positive, kind and loving to themselves at a very young age which is a key ingredient to creating loving, kind adults who make a huge difference in the world when they grow up.

I like to play this CD to help create a happy and healthy background environment in the car for my daughters. One thing I really liked about this CD is that it encouraged my daughters, who are 5 & 7 years-old, to talk about what was talked about in the CD.

We were first introduced to I AM a Lovable ME! shortly after our son was born. The messages are positive and uplifting, and our son really enjoys the vivid, colorful illustrations. We also recommend another book in this series...Take a deep breath...watching our little guy "take a deep breath and breathe out slowly" and seeing the calming effect on him (and us) is incredible! Thanks for this awesome series of books...we're looking forward to reading them to our next baby too!!!

I bought this book for my nephews and they absolutely love it. It is the first children's book I have seen that not only has a story, but an important message as well. It teaches children to love themselves and be happy with who they are. It really boosts self-esteem and is a valuable lesson to teach all children. I would highly recommend it. It makes a great present.

This is a really fun book that everyone can enjoy. There are a lot of hidden meanings. The author makes you feel in the end that how you make money is probably just as or even more important than how much you make. I think this is a book for every one.

SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
I love this book! It is so awesome. Singh really leaves you hanging. You never know what will jump out at you next.

You wanna laugh, don't miss this one. I don't know about what the others are talking about, I didn't get any deep meanings out of this. But what I did get was great entertainment. get this one for your collection. Also nice to add to your collection are: Aesop for Children (Winter), Grimm's complete fairy tales (Grimm), Great Children's stories (Richardson). There are many other great children's books out there, but these were the ones I enjoyed the most. Oh, and I almost forgot the two classics that no children should ever be deprived of: The Little Prince (Exupery) and Charlotte's Web (White).

A brilliant story of contemporary philosophy which draws upon fable, fairy tale, and mythology-as well as modern aesthetic and mathematical thought. Even more brilliant is the style in which it was written, a literary equivalent to Cubism with all sorts of pleasant repetitions and poetic phrases. If Picasso had been a writer, I imagine him writing something like this, although he probably would have stayed away from caterpillars and butterflies, especially pink and blue ones.

The only writer who has made me laugh and cry in the same book. It can be slow at times,but trust me, stick with it! I have recommended it to many others who have told me how they laughed out loud and even cried in cafes, getting a whole lot of other people interested in the book. Now I see why so many people are enjoying and talking about what is but a simple tale of a caterpillar searching for its food plant. I think my only problem with the book is that the author didn't give the caterpillar a name. I think this bothered a lot of people. Poor thing needs a name. Instead she is always referred to as THE BRAVE LITTLE CATERPILLAR. It's tedious and tiring and I wish he had given her a name, any name, couldn't have been that hard. Personally I would have named her. But that's not reason enough to bash a book that has won the heart of so many young Asians. And if great art bears true witness to an experience, I think Singh has quite honestly captured the ambitions and anxieties, the experience, of second generation American Asians, be they Indian, Korean, or Japanese. Myself I had a dad who ever since I was a child would sneak into my room while I was sleeping and whisper, in my ear, 'Doctor, doctor, I want to be a doctor,' in a sad and futile hope to subliminally mold my dreams and desires. But when he saw that wasn't working, it was sort of forced upon me and sadly this was for his own ego. So now for his ego I truly believe I'm wasting my time studying something I really don't want to be studying. But, slowly but surely, I'm summoning up the courage to leave the 'Silk Palace' and pursue my 'food plant' whatever it may be. I admittedly don't know yet. But that's more because I regrettably let someone else define my life. In writing this, I see and feel how powerful this book is and I look forward to anything else this author has to say.

Following the trend set by her earlier "Diary of a Worm" and "Diary of a Spider", Cronin has crafted yet another highly entertaining, informative critter autobiography. Though she anthropomorphizes the fly, it's helps make ordinarily boring factoids (like the fact that "flies beat their wings 200 times per second") come alive to the young reader, who can easily identify with what's going on during the fly's first day of school. As a former health inspector, I was pleased to see the author pointed out that flies regurgitate their food into the next food they eat (one of the reasons you want to cover food at a picnic.) The illustrations are very funny and help make this book a good first nonfiction to share with classes. Teachers might also consider using this as a fun example to get the kids started thinking about writing journals.

What a delightful book!

I have the series-Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider-and my three boys absolutely love them.

Fly is good friends with Spider (If you can believe it!) and Worm. She dreams of being a superhero but doesn't think it's possible. She's cute and kind and she has that sense of insecurity I think all children possess: 'Am I good enough?' Which, of course she is, as her friends help her realize.

I couldn't wait to get this book and my children were just as happy as I was. As I read it to them, we laughed and enjoyed the beautiful pictures that graced every page. Highly recommend all the books. Good to read them in order- Worm, Spider, Fly -or whichever way!

Same format as her other "diary" books! My kids and my students love having this book read to them!

I read this to my 3rd graders in the days before Christmas, and they loved it. It was then passed around the room and re-read by many of them. They found that looking at things from the fly's point of view very entertaining. Yes,I had to explain some things to my second-language learners, so it was a vocabulary lesson as well.

I bought this for the child of a friend and it was a huge hit. The book is creative in it's conception and the lay out. The laughs start even before you get to the story--the "photo's" on the inside cover and page liner give you an early taste of what's to come.

The illustrations are consistently great and colorful. Some of the language may require some explanation (the first entry is for the first day of school as the fly nervously asks "what if I'm the only one who eats regurgitated food?" (I mean, how many 4 year olds are going to be able to fly along with regurgitated without explanation?) But the explanations, I'm told, are part of the fun. (The fly need not have worried--it turns out all the flies eat regurgitated food.)

From visits with relatives caught between windows and screens, to the delights of a spilled ice cream cone as a "favorite food", this book is a complete hoot from the beginning to the end. Not a false step anywhere on the way.

Give both your child and yourself a treat and spend a few days in this fly's world!

What a truly amazing book. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone no matter what the age. The pictures are awesome and so is the story line. And the CD is so well done. I'm surprised everyone doesn't own this book. If you are looking for a book for your children or grandchildren look no farther. This is the book you want to buy.

You can't be without this book if you have 3-6 year old kids. My girls can't get enough of it. The message is one of encouragement, persistence, and self confidence. Eric Drachman is amazing at what he does. The CD character voices seal the deal. A must have along with all the others: Ellison the Elephant and It's Me. A Frog Thing is his newest release and is maybe more appropriate for slightly older kids i.e. 5 and up.

This is a wonderful story for any child who has ever felt left out. Leo is tiny and can't make his light shine. He is teased by the other lightning bugs. His mom tells him to keep trying and he'll succeed. After practicing over and over, he finally figures out how to light his light. The other bugs stop teasing him and he learns to laugh at himself, an important lesson for the younger child. I have a 6 year old and an 8 1/2 year old and they both love this story. The illustrations are wonderful.

I have bought this book for my grandchildren and have enjoyed reading it with them. Beautiful illustrations and lots of fun for young children.

This lovely and lively story became an instant favorite of my two young nephews -- which is saying a lot considering that their bookshelf is well stocked! The CD that accompanies the book (making the price a real bargain) is no afterthought -- it is just as rich in detail and as well-produced as the book itself. And having a CD of the book comes in very handy when the boys are in the mood to hear the story AGAIN (and again and again and again...)

I opened the book and have found it in excellent shape, and I also glanced through the pages and read bits and pieces as I went through it. It is surprising to know how many types of bugs you can eat. It will be kept for future reference. A very good book.

Excellent full color photography. This could have been more indepth on recipes. There must be a lot more types of edible insects than what is shown here and some step by step meal preparation in full color would really help in rounding out this scratch on the surface edible insects. The book is more of a coffee table conversation piece than a chef's delight but what is presented here gives some insight into cultures and is far superior to any line drawing presentation.

A delightful book featuring an eight year on-again off-again survey of...BUGS ON THE DINNER PLATE! The authors search for insect eaters willing to be photographed with their cuisine and share their knowledge. The photos are plentiful and absolutely brilliant.

Peter alternates essays with Faith and is consistently more enthusiastic about experiencing every taste: "If day-old fried chicken had no bones, hair instead of feathers, and were the size of a newborn sparrow, they might taste like tarantula." Faith only ate a two inch piece of tarantula leg. Peter says Faith is a lightweight. "Big deal!" says Faith.

The South African ladies' lunch group was aghast when they heard about the Chinese, who eat raw scorpions with their stingers and poison sacs removed or stir-fried without the subtraction. "I wouldn't eat them," one of them said, as she downed her fried termites. Both groups would probably be repulsed by the New Guinea boys who eat raws grubs or roasted stink bugs for a mid-morning snack - or the Indonesian woman who likes cicada and says, "It's better than pig." What constitutes acceptable vs repulsive food seems to be a matter of locale and culture.

Obviously, our supermarkets are culturally limited, offering only a narrow slice of what world cuisine offers. The authors provide formal recipes for witchetty grub dip, fried water bugs with plum sauce, scorpion soup, grasshopper tacos, stink bug pate, mealworm spaghetti, and sundried mopane worms. Many simpler recipes may be gleaned from the text.

Peter Menzel is an award-winning photographer. Faith D'Aluisio, his wife, is an award winning TV news and documentary producer. The book covers trips to thirteen countries, mostly third-world - definitely a 5-star effort.

A feast (or just a snack) of insects sounds almost revolting unless of course you deep fry them or place them in lollipops or my favorite barbecued. Whats not to love about straight from the earth cuisine which is actually considered delicacies in many countries. Menzel demonstrates that every continent gets enjoyment from tasty insect treats. But because Menzel is such an amazing photographer, its hard not to have your skin crawl when you see a girl eating a spider, or women eating grubs (look like albino catepillers), or the vast amounts of scorpions runnng aimlessly around a man's feet. I particularly think the roasted termites were very disturbing since they look like rat size roaches. I dont mean to sound childish, this book is much more then just unique cuisine, its another way that Menzel is making us globally aware of our neighbors. The photography is beautiful and vivid plus the paragraphs speaking of the insects and thier importance makes you feel a little respect for things we usually step on. Menzel is once again a genious and a little offbeat (in the best of ways) with this book.

This book has always been a big hit with the numerous public school classes that visit our museum. I only have to hold it up to get a reaction, usually a groan, but it sure gets their attention. It also starts discussions and questions even when other parts of the presentation have not. The photos are great and add immensely to the charm of the book.

In general Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio have written a book in "Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects" that is largely color photos. But what photos! Each present parts of a story involving the way various cultures employ insects in their cuisine. This brings up a question used by a much earlier author as a book title - "Why Not Eat Insects?" Many (but by no means all!) species of both insects and arachnids are as edible as the shrimp and crabs we Americans love to consume. We of course have to be cautious (not a good idea to eat cockroaches, despite some "reality" TV programs!), but there are a number of "safe" species that have been "taste tested" so to speak. In addition, we unwittingly consume tons of insects in various agricultural products simply because they pose no health hazard and are nearly impossible to remove.

If you have to deal with children in education or if you are just curious about what other cultures eat, this is a great book both to read and just to peruse. I would think that it would find its way to school libraries and to home schoolers lists of resources!

Old Mother West Wind was a gift for grandmother, who read her children stories from this series when we were young. Happy stories and illustrations for young elementary children. Good entertainment, useful for K-3 school. Loved it!

These stories were first told to his own children by Thornton Burgess. Then they were read to me by my mother over 60 years ago. They were long out of print when my own children were of the right age but they are back for my grandchildren. They are highly recommended.

This book was a gift to my 6 year-old grandson. He loves it; both the stories and the pictures. This is a book my mother read to me when I was little boy. My favorite character was Bobby Coon.

Thornton Burgess was a naturalist and the stories of animals in Old Mother West Wind are wonderful. The characters attitudes and behaviors are true to the animal portrayed. A wonderful way to get acquainted with nature. Perfect book for an adult to read to a younger child.

A book of short stories about animals who talk, _Old Mother West Wind_ is enjoyable for a child of about five years to about eight as a read aloud (or older, if your child isn't terribly worldly.) These short tales often attempt to explain "how", as in how the skunk got his stripe, and have, in addition to the animals, characters such as Mother Nature and the Merry Little Breezes.

Many of these stories attempt to teach a moral, though often it is not obvious due to the author's skill. These are old stories and they reflect the values of the time they were written in. My ADHD eleven year old read the book himself and enjoyed it and is looking forward to the sequel.

Here are the stories included:

1) Mrs. Redwing's Speckled Egg - Mrs. Redwing has just laid a beautiful new egg and the Merry Little Breezes must help keep it safe from Tommy Brown.

2) How Reddy Fox Was Surprised - When Johnny Chuck wanders too far from home, Reddy Fox decides to play a trick on him. But the joke's on Reddy Fox.

3) Why Grandfather Frog Has No Tail - Grandfather Frog tells the Merry Little Breezes why Mother Nature took away all frogs' tails.

4) Why Jimmy Skunk Wears Stripes - When Mrs. Ruffed Grouse's eggs are destroyed by "a pair of eyes," the whole forest seeks the culprit. When Jimmy Skunk is found out, his days of night camouflage are over. (This was my son's favorite.)

5) The Willful Little Breeze - When one of the Merry Little Breezes stays in the Green Meadow after Old Mother West Wind has gone home behind the Purple Hills, he foils Hooty the Owl and Reddy Fox's plans to eat Mr. Bob White and his family.

6) Reddy Fox Goes Fishing - While Reddy Fox sleeps, he dreams he can fish as well as Billy Mink, but Reddy Fox just ends up all wet.

7) Jimmy Skunk Looks for Beetles - As Jimmy Skunk looks for beetles, he doesn't make any friends, but is rather selfish and destructive. However, the adventure really starts when Peter Rabbit decides to help.

8) Billy Mink's Swimming Party - Billy Mink invites Jerry Muskrat and Little Joe Otter to a swimming party at the Smiling Pool.

9) Peter Rabbit Plays a Joke - When Peter Rabbit tries to play a joke on Johnny Chuck and Reddy Fox, the joke back-fires.

10) How Sammy Jay Was Found Out - When Happy Jack's store of nuts disappears, Old Mother West Wind forms a committee of the whole to solve the mystery.

11) Jerry Muskrat's Party - When Jerry Muskrat throws a swim party, many of his guests aren't having any fun. Then, Little Joe Otter comes up with an idea that saves the party.

12) Johnny Chuck Finds the Best Thing in the World - When Striped Chipmunk hears Old Mother West Wind tell the Slender Fir Tree that she's found the Best Thing in the World, everyone starts to search for it--and everyone imagines it as something different.

13) Bobby Coon and Reddy Fox Play Tricks - When Bobby Coon and Reddy Fox trap Johnny Chuck inside his home, Jimmy Skunk helps Johnny Chuck surprise the two of them.

14) The Tale of Tommy Trout, Who Didn't Mind - Though Tommy Trout's mother tried to warn him of the dangers outside of their little pool, Tommy Trout didn't listen.

15) Little Joe Otter's Slippery Slide - When Little Joe Otter, Billy Mink, and Jerry Muskrat build a mud slide on the bank of the Smiling Pool, Peter Rabbit's curiosity gets the best of him.

16) Spotty the Turtle Wins a Race - When Peter Rabbit, Reddy Fox, and Billy Mink decide to race to see who's fastest, Peter Rabbit teases Spotty the Turtle that he should join. Spotty the Turtle does, and uses his mind to win the race.

This fascinating and detailed "field guide to household bugs" is written by non-scientists for non-scientists. It is
down to earth with amazing, horrifying photographic illustrations.

This is a very amusing but factual review of the bugs you knew were around your house but wished you didn't. The book is filled with interesting factoids about common house bugs that are told with humor making the book an entertaining read. It contains some great images of bugs that make you realize that it is a good job that they are very small. A good read for anyone with a good sense of humor.

I saw the two authors being interviewed on KTLA TV--they were hilarious-- and had to buy the book! It is really well-designed and funny to boot. I learned a lot. I just bought two more for my nephews (ages 9 and 11) for Christmas--the book's small size makes it a perfect stocking stuffer!

I really enjoyed this book. It's super interesting, has cool images, is easy to read and is written in a very light, fun manner. Kids and adults will both like it. After reading it, you have lots of little bizarre, freaky and entertaining factoids to share with folks.

I purchased this book in the hopes that it would shed some light on the mysterious bugs I've seen in my home (no, I'm not a dirty person with a bug-filed home, but my house is very old with lots of nooks and crannies for bugs to come into the house!). Instead, this book is more of a book for families/kids. There are no actual photos of bugs or their larvae, just super-magnified images that won't really help with identification. The information is very generalized, and the authors try to be "jokey" in their descriptions as well as with their tips on how to get rid of bugs. I was also disappointed in how small the book is. I wish there had been a "look inside" option for this book before I purchased it. In all fairness, there were a few interesting tidbits in this book, but it was not what I was looking for.

you cannot go wrong w/ david carter "bug" books. i buy every one i can and my kids are getting too old for them. GREAT gifts

when are you going to mail this book ? or email me a phone # so i can talk to some one abouit this book.

I was happy to find the Bugs pop-up book, because my own children loved them, and now I am buying them for grandchildren. The books are fun and a delight for children, but probably too fragile for children under 3. The pop-ups are creative and clever, and there is a bit of a story line to the books, too.

My 16 month old son has only recently begun to sit still for books, but this was the first one that he paid rapt attention to, beginning to end. He brings it over for me to read it to him frequently. He has learned which way to pull the different flaps and tabs (they are different on different pages). Perhaps it's not the sturdiest of books, but for amount of pulling and yanking it has had, it has lasted far better than several other pop-up type books we have. We read it all the time, and he still hasn't tired of it. I will be getting him some others in the "bugs" series (he loves Chanukah Bugs, too), since they hold his attention so well! The bugs are cute, also.

I bought this book for my two 1/2 yr old. She loved all popup style books. But this book you have to be careful with. Each page had a different style of pull out, pop up. But the paper is very thin and tears easily. Not for a child to look through them selfs. Even as an adult I have to be very gentle with it.