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Exciting new reader from Nic Bishop!

There are more than 38,000 types of spiders. They live almost everywhere, even in your basement! Spiders have eight legs and fangs. They spin silk into webs-and use the webs to catch their dinner!

Now even the youngest readers can join Sibert-Honor author, photographer, and biologist Nic Bishop as he takes a closer look at the world's most amazing animals. In this first book, Nic introduces fun facts about spiders and their bodies, habits, and life cycle. The simple, easy-to-read text is perfect for beginners, and the eye-catching photographs will delight naturalists of all ages.

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

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Nic Bishop

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5 stars
310 (46%)
4 stars
224 (33%)
3 stars
101 (15%)
2 stars
15 (2%)
1 star
16 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 215 reviews
Profile Image for Jennifer.
52 reviews
May 1, 2010
Spiders are creepy, crawly and scary, but Nic Bishop’s book, Spiders, still makes you want to know more. The amazing pictures grab your attention and keep you turning the page even if it turns your stomach. He manages to find many unusual subjects and photograph them up close so you can see the smallest details like the spines on the legs of the green lynx spider. He also includes pictures of a tarantula eating and a wolf spider carrying her babies on her back.

The text includes so many facts told in a conversational format that I think students may not even notice how much they are learning. On each page of text, there is a line that is a larger size and a different color to stand out. This sentence usually gives the main idea or an interesting fact from that page. I think that makes this book very good for a variety of readers. Some readers may chose to only read that main idea while for others it might hook them into the rest of the text on the page. This book is written for 2nd grade and up but can easily be read to younger students.

Another great feature of this book is the middle fold out pages. When you open them all the way, you can see a jumping spider leaping across the page. The picture is so vivid that you can even see the thread that trails behind it. The author coordinates the background color of the page with the picture featured on it which also makes them pop. For example, the picture of the cobalt-blue tarantula is on the page next a text with blue background.

At the end of the book, Nic Bishop includes two pages that tell about how he got some of the pictures for the book. He traveled to French Guiana, Costa Rica and Florida for some and others he took with spiders he kept at his house. There is even a picture of him setting up for a shot. This book has a lot of boy appeal and can be used to teach text features like using a glossary and an index.

The Booklist starred review states that “the details are riveting” and School Library Journal starred review says “dazzling full-color close-ups.”

Awards:

2008 Sibert Honor Book
2008 Orbis Pictus Honor Book
2008 Gryphon Honor Book
2008 American Library Association Notable Book
Profile Image for Jess.
2,617 reviews74 followers
October 3, 2018
Non-fiction - single topic
Sibert Honor Book
For grades 2-8

Stunning photographs accompany the text describing the life-cycle, habits and characteristics of a variety of spiders.

The high quality, close-up, full page photographs alone make this book a must-read for fans of spiders. In addition, the narrative text is fact-filled but entertaining, occasionally using a larger font for emphasis. The basics of spider life are woven into fun facts about many types of spiders, using humor and shock value to lift the text above a dry scientific recounting. While some pictures might be off-putting to the more squeamish, others are strangely beautiful and the details captivating. It's hard not to be entranced by the fold-out spread of the jumping spider, and Bishop's note at the end provides more information on how he managed to capture these images, including the fact that he raised many of the spiders himself. The pages and text are uncluttered, unlike many books featuring many smaller images and text boxes, and this format lends itself to browsing as well as reading aloud, an unusual trait in a science book. While many of the featured spiders are exotic, Bishop doesn't forget to point out that they live almost everywhere - "even in your basement."

The Kirkus review does an excellent job of pointing out the ways in which "the design supports the subject," and describes the information covered. Booklist calls the text "chatty" and gives a good sense of the subject matter and tone of the book.

September 2018 - Ben's still afraid of real spiders, but fascinated by spiders in books. He especially liked the jumping spider fold-out spread.
Profile Image for Amy.
1,132 reviews
August 14, 2012
If, like me, you are not fond of spiders, then this book is going to make your skin crawl. But you should still read it. The information in this book is interesting and it's presented in a way that really turns "eew, spiders," into "cool, spiders!" My nephew is also not a huge spider fan, and when we started reading this book he was covering his eyes. By the time we were several pages in, however, he was remarking upon how neat some of the spiders looked, was naming the green ones as his favorites, and was even asking questions about them that were not along the lines of, "Can that spider kill people?"

Nic Bishop's photographs were spectacular and fascinating, and even if this book can't be appreciated for the subject, it can certainly be appreciated for the photography. I was captivated by his notes at the end that addressed how he obtained some of these beautiful photos. In fact, I think those notes actually made me enjoy the subject more.
Profile Image for Stan.
255 reviews
February 28, 2013
Spiders are scary, especially big or poisonous ones. I don't really like them. We have a rule at my house: spiders can live in the yard, but not in the house. Sometimes they don't live by the rules. Not good. Still, spiders are interesting: how do they spin webs; why are they so hairy; what happens when they grow? To find out, Nic Bishop spent a lot of time in places I wouldn't want to visit; he even invited some spiders to live in his house! I'm glad he enjoys that type of work, and that he shares, through books, what he learns. His photographs are amazing. Some of the spiders almost look cute . . . almost.
Profile Image for Olivia Lebert.
16 reviews
December 3, 2022
I am not one to like spiders very much but Nic Bishop crafted an informational book that left me wanting to know more about the creepy creatures. The images integrated within the text throughout this book are booming with color, detail, and leave a spider-hater intrigued of these mystical beings. On each page, the factual information provided was interesting to learn about and left me with more knowledge than I had before. The text was organized well in each spread where one side of the page was dedicated to showing the kind of spider being discussed, and the other side included a short paragraph detailing the most important facts about each spider. At the end of each paragraph, Nic Bishop included a short caption that explained what the spider was doing during the taking of the photograph. In the back matter of the book, Nic Bishop described some of the extraordinary adventures he partakes in to capture the beautiful moments these creatures display. If you are wanting to learn more about these skin-crawling creatures, I highly recommend this non-fiction read.
22 reviews
March 1, 2017
Text-to-Teaching Connection
This book is a great resource for younger children in 1st-3rd grades. I would read this book and have the children choose a type of spider mentioned in the book and write several facts about that spider on a paper cut out in a spider shape. Then, as a group we could compare and contrast some of the different types of spiders in the book. Some of the things we could consider are: does the spider build a web? How big is the spider? Which spider is the biggest? Which one is the smallest? Where does the spider live? How long does the spider live? Which spider lives the longest?

Then we could display all of the spider facts on a web, the kind you buy as a Halloween decoration.
40 reviews
September 5, 2019
If you want to learn about spiders and learn deep information about them, this is the book for you! This book shared so many awesome facts about spiders that will either freak you out or you will think is so fascinating. Did you know there are more than 38,000 types of spiders in the world? Or that some tarantulas can live up to thirty years? Or that spiders were hunting long before lions and tigers? They were hunting even before Tyrannosaurus rex. This book will blow you mind with crazy facts about spiders that you would never even think of!
Profile Image for Sunday.
1,029 reviews57 followers
January 12, 2024
What's remarkable about this book is that Nic Bishop took all of the photos himself. Each is stunning and worthy of close looking and conversation. Bishop explains his work in a captivating author's note at the end of the book so if you're reading this aloud to students, don't skip the author's note!

Well written and well organized. Each two-page spread addresses a sub-topic like the physical features of spiders (vs. insects), the main parts of a spider's body, how they eat and so forth. There are no headings. Instead each page of text has a sentence in bold, larger type that gives a clue as to the topic of that page.

SUPER EASY TO READ ALOUD! As you turn to each page, give the students a chance to look, to "oooo" and "aaaah"! Or just book talk by reading a few pages and leave in the classroom library to be grabbed up.

PAIR THIS TEXT WITH SCURRY! The Truth About Spiders by Annette Whipple. Whipple's book is packed with features - clear headings, sidebars, diagrams. I'd read aloud Whipple first and talk about how she categorizes facts (e.g., "this page is all about how spiders hunt") and then ask students to use that knowledge to help them think about Bishop's text. Lots of potential for thoughtful discussions about AUTHOR'S CRAFT while also learning an amazing amount about spiders.
Profile Image for Karen.
29 reviews
June 19, 2010
Spiders by Nic Bishop is a great learning tool for almost any age. It contains an index to find specific spiders and a glossary to explain the "spidery" terms. This book contains closeup, clear, photographs. Some of these photographs were taken in the wild while others were taken in artificial settings that met the natural environment of the spider. The reader finds this out in the author's note at the end of the book.

The book was riveting and very real. I had to appreciate these details even though I am not enamored by spiders at all. The text was very informational and explained many physical facets of the spiders that can be seen in the close-up and personal photographs of the different species of spiders. The eating, hunting, and mating habits were provided in the text.

The language was very understandable without being condescending. The background colors were bright and eye-catching but still part of the spider-world and not detracting from the photographs or text. Depending on parent controls, a reader could learn much about spiders just by looking at the pictures.

Even though I do not like spiders, the educational value of this book is undeniable. I give it a 5.
Profile Image for NS- Sarah.
43 reviews
November 12, 2009
This book is simply amazing! Nic Bishop's photography is stunning and impressive. The fact that his work is being shared with kids is very exciting because his pictures are good enough to appear in magazines, textbooks or online. I just completed a science unit on spiders with my first graders and they were mesmerized by this book. As a teacher, I couldn't have found a better book to spark my students' interest. The text is also very appropriate for elementary school students. The reading level is ideal for upper elementary but portions of it could be read aloud to younger students. This informational book does exactly what it should. It engages children and makes them want to keep reading. This type of book is perfect for science and/or social studies lessons. It is also a great book to put on a classroom bookshelf for students to peruse during free time. I am so glad I discovered Nic Bishop. All classroom teachers should check out his books.
48 reviews1 follower
September 28, 2016
Summary: This book is a great resource on everything you need to know about spiders. It talks about the different types of spiders and what they do in order to survive.
Grade level: K-8
Classroom use: This would be a great book to use after a KWL chart. For a science lesson or even just a subject that interests students, we could use this book to use research so students could get a better understanding of how spiders work. We could do a KWL chart and have children use books such as this one to gather information. We would then collect as a class and discuss our findings
Students who will benefit: Any student who is interested in spiders or insects would LOVE this book.
Small group use: Students could get into groups and discuss what they find interesting from this book
Whole class use: KWL charts
Related books: "The book of the Spider"
Multimedia connections: n/a
Profile Image for Kathryn Eder.
27 reviews
December 5, 2012
This is a great book that is full of amazing facts for students to learn about. The photos that they chose to use in this book go so well with the information in the book. It is a great combination to have fact and to have beautiful and realistic photos of spiders.
Profile Image for Fatma Mahmoud .
376 reviews111 followers
January 19, 2014
سخيييييفة ..كنتت بكرها وبذاكرها غصب عني
وكنت بتلخبط ف اشخاصها ..
لن أنسي إن الدرجة الوحيدة اللي نقصتها ف الانجليزى كانت ف تانية بسبب سؤال نسيته فيها اووف وجبت 49 ف السنتين :( :(
40 reviews
December 1, 2019
Summary: This is a science book about spiders and it helps with getting students from grades 1st- 3rd really excited about learning about spiders. This book has great pictures of spiders close up and has lots of descriptive text to talk about what is happening in the pictures. The book also has weird facts about spiders and has a very huge action part that shows a spider that jumps 20 times its body size!! This book is great for kids and gives them an up close and personal view of spiders without that up close and personal feel in the classroom.

Evaluation: I really enjoyed this book especially because of the pictures. You could very easily do a picture walk with students if they were not able to read the text themselves. But it is also good for older grades because of the text that is enriching and helpful for students to learn more facts. This is a great book to use to get students excited for non fiction books and also get them interested in more serious science facts involving animals. There is a lot of rich text that gets students interested in all the things involving animals.

Teaching Idea: I really liked that this book was a Sibert Medal Nominee, and it was just really great for the kids. I think that I would use this book as an introduction to non fiction and informative texts with students, and use it as an interactive read aloud for older students. If it was younger students I would have them do a picture walk through the book with me since the text may a little high for them, and then I would talk to them about what this book is and how it is non fiction and informational text and how cool that is.
20 reviews
November 16, 2017
Spiders by Nic Bishop is an informational picture book on creepy crawly creatures: spiders. He discusses the origin, life-cycle, and habitat of spiders. Furthermore, he details a variety of of several types of spiders. In his fact-filled picture book, Nic uses a larger font to emphasize cool facts about spiders. The basics of the life of a spider are portrayed into fun facts because the author sometimes uses humor and shock to make an entertaining read for readers.

The book's high quality and close-up photographs make this book fun to read. Some pictures are a little disturbing but others are appealing to look at. The full-page photographs are captivating and make the reader want to flip the page, even if he or she is not a fan of spiders. Also, Bishop uses a variety of colors in his text and in the photographs' background to captivate the reader into wanting to learn more about spiders.
45 reviews
November 5, 2019
Genre: Nonfiction
Awards: Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
Audience: 1st-5th grade
A. The topic of this book is biological science and talks about spiders.
B. This book is presented in a child-friendly way because includes a photograph that goes along with the text on each page. Also, it includes one different-colored sentence in big bold letters that states the main idea on each page. Children would have an easy time reading the main idea and moving on without getting overwhelmed by too many details.
C. The text features available are captions, an index, and a glossary.
D. I would use this book when teaching my students about different insects and their body structures, life cycle, and types. For fifth or fourth grade students, I would have each student make a "Diary of a Spider" journal where they would find information in the book to include in their diary like diet of a spider, life cycle, types of spiders, and/or interesting facts they find.
Profile Image for Jennifer Sommer.
Author 2 books3 followers
May 3, 2022
This beautiful book won an honor for the Sibert Award naming it one of the best informational books of 2007. Geared for younger elementary children, it provides basic information on a variety of spiders, including the black widow, jumping spider, wolf spider and the Goliath birdeater tarantula. Spectacular close-up views of the spiders is one of the biggest attractions of this book, providing the gross factor that kids will love. The reading level is slightly higher at 4.8 but this won't keep 1st and 2nd graders from wanting a look, and parents can read the interesting spider facts aloud. This author has done other similar books including The Red-Eyed Tree Frog, Frogsand Cameleon, Cameleon.
Profile Image for Sarri Tate Gibson.
60 reviews
June 11, 2017
This book is full of information on spiders. There are many sentences on each page, so if used for read aloud, teacher would need to pick and choose the parts to share. Does not have a Table of Contents, but does have a glossary and index. Photographs are zoomed in and very detailed- ever spider loving child's dream come true! I can easily imagine pages of this book being shown for shock factor around a classroom and this book being in high demand!
There is information about size of spiders, what they eat, body parts, and life cycle too.
36 reviews
April 22, 2019
Genre: Nonfiction
Awards: Siebert Honor
Audience: K- 3rd
A. The topic of this book is spiders.
B. It is presented in a child-friendly by having big pictures, simple vocabulary, and large font.
C. Text features in this book are photos, captions, table of contents, glossary, and index.
D. I would use this as a read aloud for Kindergarten to introduce arachnids. For the grades above kindergarten I would have it available for students to use for research because it has amazing photos and a very helpful glossary and index with great facts.
21 reviews1 follower
December 11, 2023
The book"Spiders" by Nic Bishop is a really neat book about spiders. The pictures are super close-ups, so you can see all the tiny details of these eight-legged creatures. The words are easy to understand, and you learn lots of interesting facts about different kinds of spiders. It's perfect if you want to know more about these little creatures. The book even has a glossary in the back to look up different types of spiders and different vocabulary that deals with spiders specifically. The pictures are so good that it feels like the spiders are right in front of you!
Profile Image for LC.
24 reviews
September 6, 2017
A great informational text on spiders for kids! This book can be used for students in grades 1-2. One thing I liked is the glossary, which allows students to review certain words that they might be unfamiliar with and will learn. I thought this book was full of information on spiders, any insect lover would find this book to be a favorite!
75 reviews
December 4, 2017
Genre: Informational
Grades: 1-2

"Yuck" is what I thought when I took this book off the ERC shelf. But I checked it out anyway because I wanted to give it a chance, and I'm glad I did. I thought it was going to talk about certain species of spiders, but it talked about what all spiders can do. Each picture was a close-up photo of an actual spider (so I made sure not to touch the pictures), but it is a really cool book full of interesting facts about spiders.
20 reviews
December 8, 2017
Nic Bishop provides an up close look at different species of spiders in this early concept informational book for children. The book, along with the close up-detailed pictures, provides interesting facts allowing the reader to create background information as well as seeing these small creatures up close and personal.
Profile Image for Chase.
72 reviews
February 26, 2018
I am fascinated with books about Spiders and spiders in general. I wish I could own a pet spider, but my paren's wouldn't allow it, if could, I would have a collection of them. I enjoy this book because of its large, crisp photos that Bishop either photographed in the spider's natural environment or photographed in his own home.
Profile Image for NayDoubleU.
980 reviews31 followers
September 9, 2018
Loved everything about this book but the first page. "Spiders are meat eaters like lions and tigers but they are much more scary!" I feel like the much more scary part should have been left out. Looking at it from a child's viewpoint and the possibility of them being scared, that may make their fears worse
40 reviews
October 1, 2019
This is a great informational book about spiders. Spiders have been on earth since before the dinosaurs. They have been here for 350 million years. There are 38,000 types of spiders through out the world. This book has great pictures of various spiders and where they are from. This is a great book for anyone interested in reading about spiders.
39 reviews
October 24, 2019
This book is informative about spiders. I personally hate spiders so it was hard reading this book, but there was a lot of interesting facts. I liked that there were facts on each page about the kind of spider pictured on the page. I thought it was interesting to read the story in the back of the book to find out most of the spiders pictured were raised at his home.
39 reviews
December 7, 2017
Wow this was an engaging text! Beautifully illustrated, this text really captures what it is like to be a spider. Although it does cover some difficult concepts such as body parts of a spider, it really does hold the interest of the reader.
Profile Image for Kris Dersch.
2,371 reviews24 followers
October 12, 2019
This is awesome. The pictures are amazing, the information is good, there's enough of it while not being so much you can't do it as a read-aloud, and the author's note on how he took the photos is just amazing. A must for any young spider lover.
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