ARANEA: A Story About a Spider

by Jenny Wagner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1979

All this big, square (10"" by 10"") book has going for it is an appearance of importance. Ostensibly, it's a snippet from the life of a spider who--with much dramatic ado--weathers a thunderstorm; but even on that modest level it's a dud, the result first of not facing up to some basic facts about spiders. ""Aranea stood in the wind, spinning and spinning,"" the text begins--while behind her we see vignetted clouds. The (adult) presumption that she's hanging from some unseen support is shattered on the next page, which reads (after ""spinning and spinning""), ""A fine thread lifting into the air and hanging there, caught on the wind."" An Indian rope trick, by the sound of it. Then, when Aranea lands ""on a lilac bush in somebody's garden"" and spins a web, she destroys it next morning ""so that no one would see it."" In the absence of a story, there's no justification for ascribing intent to a spider. But none of this coalesces into anything but an exhibition of sooty, moody pictures and awe-struck, quasi-poetic words.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bradbury

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1979

Categories: CHILDREN'S