Spiro by Anna McGregor

A funny look at a spider making his web in circumstances which see it destroyed time and time again. At first he weaves between a lawn mower, a red apple, a lazy dog and a bicycle. Each time a nice piece of lunch comes by, Spiro is excited that his hunger will be appeased. But something always happens. When a fly flies past, Spiro is happy, but Lucy takes her bike for a ride, breaking Spiro’s web. He tries again, rebuilding the web, looping it now to the lazy dog, a climbing cat, the apple and the lawnmower. He sees a moth but the lazy dog runs after the climbing cat, so the web is destroyed again.

Again he tries and tries, reading up on web building, and rebuilds his web, looping it between the lawnmower, the dog toy, the bird’s nest and the apple. The stink bug flies by, but this time a bird swoops down and takes the worm from the apple, pulling apart Spiro’s web once again.

Readers will love the repetition of the things Spiro uses to anchor his web, and have fun guessing what may happen next.

Inside the bird hollow in the tree, the chicks see the spider. Spiro is exhausted and wondering what to do next, when Gary starts up the lawn mower, scaring off the chicks and breaking the web. Spiro is relieved that he is not the birds’ food, and is happy when Gary turns the lights on in the garden. Now he has all the insects he could hope for to be trapped in his web.

This wonderfully funny story of perseverance and determination will be enjoyed by all readers as they watch Spiro keep trying again and again to build a new web to get his dinner.

The illustrations are just wonderful. It is amazing that illustrations can get over how a spider is feeling but these do. We feel the disappointment when something wrecks his web, watching his legs become more and more dejected as each effort is destroyed.

Readers will love watching Spiro and his efforts, predicting what the web will be fixed on and guessing what may happen on the next page. A wonderful laugh out loud book to be shared. 

Themes: Spiders, Webs, Determination, Perseverance.

Fran Knight