Spider's Web

Sheree Haughian, a former teacher-librarian with the Dufferin County
Board of Education, is an editor with Gage Educational Publishing and
the author of The Private Journal of Day Applepenny, Prisoner.

Sara Weber has a livid, spider-shaped mark on her cheek and a definite
chip on her shoulder. Alienated and subdued, she is the butt of her
classmates’ jeers and jokes. When her mother marries Andrew Craven,
the billionaire computer guru Sara privately calls Supernerd, Sara’s
sense of betrayal seems complete.

Craven turns to technology to try to win her over. In his incredible
electronic mansion, he installs, especially for her, a voice-activated
computer system that is more like a personal genie than a mere machine.
While the newlyweds honeymoon abroad, Sara uses House Cat to log onto
the Internet. Using the name “Spider,” she creates a reckless new
identity for herself. Defying the rules of Netiquette, she spits verbal
venom, attracting the ire of several other newsgroup users. Stimulated
by the attention she is now receiving, Spider tries on the cool and
abrasive image at school; the teasing quickly halts.

However, the Internet game becomes perilous. There is bitter beneath
the glitter. A mystery hacker, lurking, persistent, and immune to any
type of safety screening, threatens to do more than stalk Spider by
e-mail. As the danger closes in, Spider’s geeky friend Jerry and his
biker uncle, who runs a dumpy surfing café, prove to be her only
allies.

Who has not been both attracted and repelled by the possibility of
intrigue by Internet? This fast-paced fiction about the ambivalent
nature of cyberspace is slick and sure. Its snappy dialogue,
ultra-contemporary feel, and shivery electronic adventure have certain
appeal. Young readers will be completely caught up in Spider’s Web.
Highly recommended.