Spiders on the Case

The Deadlies #2

by Kathryn Lasky

Can the world's friendliest spiders spin a web strong enough to catch . . . a criminal?

They're sweet and friendly . . . but they just happen to be super toxic. The Deadlies are the world's most misunderstood family of spiders. Kicked out of home after home, all the Deadlies want is to settle down in a cozy web with no exterminators around.

Now they've found the perfect place - the Rare Books room at the Boston Library. The librarian isn't afraid of the Deadlies, and they have lots of lovely books to explore. But their peace is threatened when a thief starts targetting the library. Can the Deadlies spin a web big enough to catch a crook - or is it back on the road once more?

Genres: Mystery, Animals, Chapter Books

176 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Kathryn Lasky, also known as Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann, is an award-winning American author of over one hundred books for children and adults. Best known for the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, her work has been translated into 19 languages and includes historical fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction.

Reviews

[Angelika · Rating 4 out of 5]

For advanced 2-3rd grade. Brown recluse spider family helps orphan orb weaver stop a pair of art thieves in the Boston Library.

[Lee]

Bookish. Spiders.

The illustrations are ugly as sin though, what the heck?

[Mundie Moms & Mundie Kids · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun adventure with a unique family of crime fighting spiders. Who would have thought that spiders could be so cool? Certainly not me, but if this family of spiders lived in my house I'd definitely keep them around. Not only do they protect the Boston Public Library's collection of books from those pesky silverfish who eat through pages and the collectable paintings, but together they stop thieves who keep stealing pictures out of books.

Not only did I like the library setting, but I liked the way Kathryn was able to incorporate some fun science and history lessons into the story. I like it when my kids can read a fun book and take something away from it. The history part of the story comes from the collectable books were the spider family makes their home and the science part of the story comes from learning a ton of cool (or gross) spider facts, depending on how you look at it. The illustrations that go along with this story are great.

I also loved how the spider family learns to read and uses hieroglyphs in their webs to send messages to Tom, the friendly librarian in order to help him stop the thieves who vandalize the library's books. I really liked Tom, and admired his respect for the spiders and how nice he was to them. There's also a great lesson about respecting the public library and it's books, as well as historical artifacts. I'd definitely recommend this book for home, classroom and library settings. It's a creative way to get kids interested in reading, learning more about spiders (and this is coming from someone who's afraid of spiders), and respecting our public libraries. Kathryn also includes a great facts page at the end of her story about the library and spiders.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son loved the gross stuff and there were bits that were funny but I think we finally found a book outside (under) his range in the kids section. Gotta start looking in the teen section I guess.

[Jennifer Rayment · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jake's Review: Sorry Mom, really didn't like this one. I think its more for younger kids and for girls. Way too much history and boring book stuff - you will probably like it though. I did like the pictures throughout the book and some of the gross spider stuff was fun, but that was it. This is one that you can give away to someone else, I don't wanna keep it.

Jake's Rating: 4/10

Mom's Review: Adorable story for the middle school reader in the 7 - 9 range. Its set in a library so you can see the appeal for me, but I think Jake will find it interesting as well (update to my original review: guess I was wrong there about Jake liking it) . Lots of gross spider stuff for kids to enjoy and some science and history lessons weaved into the story as well. The illustrations will help keep the more reluctant reader interested in the story. Young kids will appreciate the dynamics between the family members and feel a connection with the overlooked kid. A good story for a classroom library to get the students interested in learning more about spiders in a fun way. Oh yeah and a good message about the evils of defacing and stealing stuff from the library -- I'm with Buster use the venom on the evil ones who deface library material (Jake's Note: Mom isn't that a little harsh)

Mom's Rating: 8/10

We received this from Scholastic in exchange for an honest review (Sorry Scholastic, Jake doesn't like to hold back LOL!)

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jo Bell and the rest of her family of brown recluse spiders have recently taken up residence in the Boston Public Library, and they feel safely concealed from humans who might try to eliminate them. Because of their hidden viewpoint, they are the first to observe a theft. Someone is carefully cutting out valuable maps from old library books! How can they warn the humans who run the library? Humans don't speak spider! Their solution is creative, and not without some difficulty and danger.

This middle-grade book by Kathryn Lasky (famous for her Guardians of Ga'hoole Boxed Set, Books 1-4 series), is well-written. I might have given it 4 stars, except for the "ewww" factor. Spiders, webs, silverfish, beetles, and cockroaches are all on my list of undesireables, so it is a testament to the author's talent that this particular spider adventure was interesting and entertaining. Not for arachnophobes. Ages 8-11.

[mandyfujita · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Deadlies are living in a near place at the Boston Public Library. Their human friend, Tom, is the person in charge of the rare book collection. The Deadlies are welcomed to eat all the bugs that damage the rare books. A new spider, Buster, is introduced. Two people are cutting up the rare books and its up to the Deadlies to help put a stop to it. I enjoyed it and the illustrations were well done.

[Ingrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Deadlies are a spider family that live in the Boston Public Library in the rare book room. They are happy there and help keep bug eating insects away from the valuable books. But they discover that a husband and wife are stealing illustrations from some of the books and they have to find a way to alert the librarian to what is happening. This was a fun book and the illustrations are really nice too.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute story for younger readers (about 4th, 5th grade). The Deadlies is a family of brown recluse spiders, now residing in the Boston Public Library's Rare Books room. This is a quick read, with many black and white illustrations showing spiders with hair and hands. The author does include a disclaimer at the end of the book, admonishing readers not to touch real brown recluse spiders.

[Hoover Public Library Kids and Teens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only Lasky (author of Guardian of Ga'Hoole series) could make brown recluse spiders seem delightful. Perfect mystery for reluctant readers, not to mention a great one for parents and teachers (and even librarians) to read aloud to all elementary grades.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

grades 2-4

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some clever ideas, but didn't inspire me as much as Lasky's stories about wolves. At times a little confusing. Students would learn some things about spiders.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun.early in the year. Has hieroglyphics tie in and good spider parts info.