SPIDER SPIDER

As Peter watches a small spider crawl across the floor, he declares he will become one. ""And what will you do?"" his mother asks. As he limns his plans, Peter's mother comments, sweeping her little boy/spider outdoors or washing it down the drain, but he always crawls free for another adventure; then Mother declares that she'll become a spider, too. Banks presents a duel of imaginations that could go on interminably were it not for the loving mother's gentle ending of it. Hallensleben's bright, cat-inclusive illustrations show readers the boy-as-spider in mischievous activities like pilfering his mother's lunch to napping on her book, which is open to a witty, bright party scene where the spider blends in well with the animal guests. Some of the mother's anti-spider tactics may seem threatening, as well as the view from the child/spider's perspective in many of the pictures, but the text's even tenor and the pictures' tender expressions--to say nothing of the cat's equanimity--assure readers it's all a game.