MISS SPIDER'S NEW CAR

For Miss Spider's fans (Miss Spider's Wedding, 1995, etc.), another visit to the long-lashed, pointy-nosed arachnid and her garish, high-gloss world. Miss Spider and her fuss-budget husband Holley are test-driving cars cunningly fashioned from shells, plant and insect parts, and matchboxes (will youngsters pick up on the visual pun?). Miss Spider loves the first car she sees, but Holley insists on trying others, then—for no discernible reason— surreptitiously arranges to have her first choice delivered to her home as a surprise. The inconsequential narrative, spun out in doggerel verse, seems to exist mainly as an excuse for the clever pictures. The last page promises—threatens—a boat-buying expedition as a sequel. (Picture book. 4-7)