DADDY LONGLEGS

Judy Hawes tells young readers how to catch and examine these interesting creatures who hear, taste and smell with their legs (don't grab one by a leg or the leg will come off -- and keep wriggling) and ends with directions for their care and feeding (but ""after you have watched your daddy longlegs for a few days, set them free outside. You can catch more any time you like""). This framework, along with her pleasant conversational tone and positive approach (regarding the secretions from the odor glands, ""It smells something like walnuts. I don't think it's a bad smell. It is so mild that people can hardly notice it""), add interest and appeal to the usual information about reproduction, growth and structure, Though some might object to the absence of scientific terminology and taxonomical placement, Hawes' method is better geared to what children will read and remember, and Lorraine's spruce, attractively sketchy pictures (the backgrounds might be by Peter Parnall) are similarly inviting.