Spider Dan

Agnes C. Farrell is an elementary-school teacher in Richmond, B.C.

Norman B. Foote is an award-winning children’s songwriter and
entertainer. This book, an illustrated version of his song “Spider
Dan,” tells the story of a spider who is too softhearted to eat the
creatures that become stuck in his web. He releases a butterfly who
claims she is too young to die, a cockroach who says he has 32 kids and
a wife at home, and a mosquito with a nasty flu. The next visitor to his
web is a frog who flicks her tongue and gobbles him up. When Spider Dan
uses all his captives’ excuses to plead for his life, the frog is
moved to release him. The two new friends set out to find melon rinds or
crumbs of bread to eat.

Although this book provides little factual information, young children
will enjoy the rhyming text and the colorful illustrations, which
include many humorous details, such as Spider Dan in a baseball cap
wielding a knife and fork and Henry the Cockroach in a tuxedo.
Recommended.