A Web

by Isabelle Simler

A spider - both a collector and an artist - skillfully crafts a masterpiece from all that falls into her path. Patient and observant, she takes in all of the wonders that make up her landscape from ferns and feathers, to bugs and butterflies. Readers will linger over the luscious and intricate illustrations soaking up all of the delicate details created by author and illustrator Isabelle Simler.

Genres: Picture Books, Nature, Animals, Childrens, Nonfiction, Science, Storytime

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Isabelle Simler has written and illustrated over twenty picture books for children. Sweet Dreamers, My Wild Cat, Plume, and The Blue Hour were all featured in the Society of Illustrators "The Original Art" annual exhibition. Plume was also named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book. Isabelle lives in France.

Reviews

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This nonfiction title has detailed illustrations of nature on a flat, white background, perfect for children who want to observe the natural world in their backyard.

[Rebecca Petruck]

Utterly gorgeous design that encourages young readers to Look Closer and savor the natural world around them. With a leggy hide-and-seek game, to boot! I highly recommend. <3

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spider takes a look at the things around her and then demonstrates her skill as a webmaker and an artist. The book features all sorts of items from the spider’s world. There are twigs, feathers, pebbles, insects, leaves, flowers, and more. With each spread of a variety of different kinds of these items, each item is labeled and the pages are filled with details worth exploring. Sharp-eyed readers will notice a spider lurking nearby. At first this is subtle, but soon the black legs of the spider are impossible to miss. When her art is unveiled at the end, readers will realize the care with which she has chosen from the wide array of different pieces for her work.

Simler’s text is minimal, offering basically the category that the items fall into and then labels for each item. The splendor of this title are the finely detailed illustrations that invite readers in. Children who love to categorize items or enjoy nature will love to pore over the pages here. The addition of the art at the end is a splendid surprise for readers who thought they were in a more serious nonfiction book.

Expect children to want to hold this on their laps and really look at the illustrations. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect Sunday morning book for this lover of nature. Originally published in 2013 in France and now in 2018 in the U. S. Beautiful illustrations of items in nature that children can and do find fascinating in the natural world, seeds, bugs, flowers, pebbles, flowers, all items easily accessible to the child. The illustrations are rendered with perfection. This title taught me about catkins and sent me immediately looking for more information regarding exactly what the catkin is and which trees have them.
The illustrations are done in two page spreads of one individual item. My only wish is that the illustration featuring the large one item of the group was on the left hand page to introduce the group.
When beginning this title I didn’t connect that this is the same illustrator one who had done the picture book, The Blue Hour, which was beautiful.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this book out because my younger granddaughter loves insects, especially spiders. And we loved reading (mostly looking at) it together. Isabelle Simler, author and illustrator, has allowed the spider to create its own masterpiece. With poetic text, it travels from wonder to wonder doing art, sometimes camouflage. On one page, with catkins and seeds, it hangs while drawing in its legs, hiding in plain sight! There are pages of seeds and sticks, beetles and flying insects, flies and thorns. The illustrations are extraordinary in their details. It is a fabulous book.

[Maris Pederson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Web by Isabelle Simler- Genre- Nonfiction
I picked out this picture book solely on the illustration. It is filled with beautiful, realistic illustrations of flowers, insects, leaves and seeds. It looks like it would be an easy reader so it would be great for exploring nature for early elementary school age. But on the left side of each page turned it goes into detail of names of different types of bug, leaves, flowers, and seeds. So teachers could also use this in the later elementary school years and go more in depths of the different types of insects in a certain group.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

All Simler's books seems to be pretexts for publishing a collection of related gorgeous drawings. Detailed illustrations made with fine colored pencil lines show various groups of labeled items from nature--leaves, insects, twigs, butterflies and so on. As with the cat in Simler's book "Plume", a spider subtly inserts parts of itself on each spread. Finally we see the spider's complete web.
Intriguing for tie-ins with art.
A book to be enjoyed contemplatively for its beauty, rather than for character development or plot.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous illustrations and clever sly story make this one for quietly absorbing and allowing time to enjoy all the meticulously drawn illustrations.

The first time through, I didn't realize the spider was on every spread until the end and I immediately flipped back to start over. Very fun and rewarding for an observant nature-appreciating child. Probably a hint to readers to watch for something that appears on every page will enhance young reader's first experience.

[Laura Perdew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is truly a beautiful book. I'd imagine a child would find something new in the illustrations with every read. Hopefully that child will also be inspired to go outside to find spider webs in their neighborhood or park!

[Estee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful. Not much story but full of beautiful illustrations of all things found in nature. I think I might have enjoyed it more than my daughter but we both pored over every inch of every page.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very pretty, and for those who are satisfied with just naming the things they can see in nature, somewhat educational. But it doesn't make sense, and there's no back matter. I would not recommend this.

[Scarlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO FUN! I didn’t imagine the story as leading to one final destination, but enjoyed the journey of looking at bugs. Kind of like a visual encyclopedia. I liked the spider on every page. Don’t know how J would like it 😂

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely gorgeous. Part nature picture dictionary/part spider story. Highly recommended for ages 3-7.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

has all the good elements of a super good non-fiction picture book!

[Jessica Furtado · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeously illustrated nature adventure for little ones. This is a perfect book to use as a scavenger hunt for the different insects, plants, etc. that Simler illustrates.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for children. Simple enough concept, but educational, and that's where the value is.

[Erin Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun lap/cuddle non-fiction picture book with great illustrations. Bonus activity - find the spider on every page.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations of small bits of nature are tied loosely together with brief text. A spider collects pieces to place on her spiderweb to create a masterpiece.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

It told really good pictures like insects flowers nuts and seeds that were so good

[Yentl ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very pretty book about a spider and the insects and plants they encounter around their web.

[Launna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some cool illustrations. Not sure about the spider legs on each page.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A preschool and up book about all the things that can get stuck in a spiders web.

[Jurene · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are lovely! A good book for future nature studies.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her art is inspiring me to do some new watercolor paintings.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another essential reference book, especially for someone with curious littles exploring the natural world.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning illustrations.

[Cathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a hit with young nature lovers. The drawings are detailed and terrific, and I enjoyed each one--such a marvelous combination of science and art!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was lovely but it ended a bit strange. It made it seem like the spider had everything in its web - my students were confused. The illustrations are lovely though.

[kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

more about the art that story

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Themes: webs, insects, nature
Ages: toddler-3rd+ grade (would be great to share a few pages in storytime with littles)
Pub year: 2013