The Spider Lady is an interesting and age-appropriate illustrated biography of Nan Songer for primary school (~7-10 year old) readers by Penny Parker Klostermann. Released 6th May 2025 by Penguin Random House on their Calkins Creek imprint, it's 48 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

Nan Songer was a mostly self-taught amateur arachnologist and technician whose facility with spiders and collecting their silk for manufacturing sights for ballistic weapons was utilized during and after WW2. The book goes into a surprising amount of detail on her trial-and-effort development of methods of "silking" the black widow spiders she chiefly used. The incredible patience and manual dexterity were admirable.

The text is easy to understand and aimed at the target audience, but will also likely be of interest to adults and older kids. The author/publisher have included useful glossary and references in the back of the book.

The illustrations by Anne Lambelet are attractive and evocatively nostalgic. Rendered in sketch/watercolor/pencil and digital methods, they're full of small details which invite readers to spend some time looking. The art supports the text and time period very well.

Four stars. This would be an excellent choice for public or school/classroom libraries, home use, and gift purposes, especially for STEM interested youngsters.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. The opinions written are completely honest and my own.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this book. Although seeing such little creatures helping their country was amazing, the thought of pulling their web out oddly disturbed me.

It was fun to read about the true Spider Lady and her contributions to the war effort during WW2. If I didn’t know it was true, I would instantly think it was just a fantastical idea. Someone figuring out a way to pull silk from a spider? Spider silk being used to make crosshairs in weapons? It sounds like something out of a Greek myth or fantasy novel. The text format is a little difficult to read, but the illustrations are engaging.
This book does a wonderful job of telling a summarized version of Nan Songer’s life and how she turned a lifelong interest and hobby into something productive and beneficial to the war effort (if not the world in general). I also enjoyed the emphasis on how personal interest paired with research and study can lead to excellence even without formal education.

This is a biography of Nan Songer, who was interested in spiders and how they helped the US army during WWII. It contains many interesting facts about Nan Songer and spiders. The artwork goes well with the story, and this book would be perfect for any child interested in spiders.

I read this the day after Jellyfish Scientist: Maude Delap and Her Mesmerizing Medusas and I love the (mini) trend of unsung female scientists (that’s what they were, degree or no) working with invertebrates!
Thank you to Astra Publishing House and NetGalley for the ARC!

A botanist neighbor encouraged young Nan Songer to pursue her deep interest in bug and spiders. Nan brought live specimens into her bedroom and, later, as an adult, into her whole home to study. When she learned that spider silk was used for crosshairs in surveying scopes, she wondered whether she could make a career selling silk. She decided to experiment using hairpins and parts from an eggbeater and a toy train. Nan figured out how to extract the fine filaments. Further questions, and research, followed. Then war broke out. Spider silk was needed to create crosshairs for weapons. Soon thousands of spiders were living, and spinning, in her home. She needed to study the specific silk each species produced to determine which was best for crosshairs. Some problems seemed inpossile but she solved them with patience and ingenuity.

Sidebars provide information on arachnids and identify the species Nan raised. Klostermann’s brief writing doesn’t include typical biographical information (such as Nan’s birthplace, education), focusing instead on Nan’s fascinating work. Lambelet’s detailed sepia and teal art vividly depicts Nan in pursuit of her passionate vocation. I enjoyed learning how Nan’s work to learn about the silk thread the spiders made. She became involved in the American War due to her work. I thought the illustrations were terrific and added to the subject of the book.

Thank you to Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Publishing, and Netgalley for the digital arc.
This picture book biography describes scientist Nan Songer's perseverance from her initial fascination with bugs, to her specialized research on spiders to determine which spiders produced the different types of silk for use in various instruments during WWII. Excellent for STEM, biography, and history collections as it demonstrates the importance of recording observations, experimentation, and revision of one's hypothesis. According to the copyright page, the beautifully detailed illustrations were done “in pencil and digital (with some scanned and watercolor textures)”. Includes author's note, photos, and bibliography.
#TheSpiderLady

Informative and interesting. I had no prior knowledge of Nan Songer or her spider research. She had so much patience!

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
All her life, Nan Songer loved insects. but not dead and displayed ones. Nan loved them alive and filled her home with them. When America entered the Second World War, spider silk was in high demand because it was used in gun sites. The problem: harvesting it.
The Spider Lady tells of Nan's trials and errors, as well as her success in helping the war effort. Both the illustrations and text are engaging. Spider facts are sprinkled throughout in short asides and an author's note expands on the details of Nan Songer's love of spiders and insects.

Quite an interesting historical story! I love spiders and had not heard this story before. The illustrations are beautiful, too. This is definitely a book to add to any nonfiction collection.

This is a fascinating picture book About Nan Songer. Not someone I had ever heard of, but someone I'm not really excited to share with my students about due to this book!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for The Spider Lady. I was fascinated to learn about this unknown part of history. It is sure to provide a wonderful example of role models for young people.

This is my favorite biography I've read this year. What an amazing unsung hero Nan Songer is! Her work studying spider silk helped the war effort and advanced entymology all while she experimented from her home. The author went to great efforts to ensure the research was accurate, and the illustrations are beautiful. I hope this book wins many awards!

I highly recommend this book for schools and libraries.

This is a really interesting and highly unique story, but I found myself getting a bit bored due to the length of this book. I believe that because I found the story to lack that certain engaging factor, many kids will feel the same way I did while reading this book. However, kids that are very interested in insects or, more specifically, spiders, will find this book fascinating. That being said, I do want to caution against that exclusivity because it narrows one's audience greatly. I do want to make sure to give lots of credit to the illustrator, though. Everything was so beautifully detailed that each image almost felt real. Additionally, the illustrator didn't cut any corners when drawing various spider species, and each one was highly realistic and scientifically accurate. The visuals were what I enjoyed most about this book, honestly. To improve the audience issue, I would shorten the story and add some more "fancy" words and more unusual fun facts. Additionally, shortening this book to some extent would help.

This was such an interesting book about a topic I had never heard of before. During World War 2, there was a great push to help the war effort; buying bonds, growing victory gardens, scrap metal drives. I had never heard about the need for spider silk in the war effort. This children's story relates the tale of a woman, trying to do her part by using her interest in spiders to fulfill a critical war need; spider silk used in gun scopes. I would hand this story to children who like historical war-related stories, as well as kids who have an interest in the natural world. I would also encourage adults to read this tiny bit of history and learn something new.

This picture book about Nan Singer and her research into spider silk was truly fascinating! I learned so much as my daughters and I read this for a bedtime story. Filled to the brim with facts about spiders and their silk making capabilities, this story of one woman’s journey into understanding the magic that spiders produce shows us how persistence and hard work can help in some of the most unlikely places (like in building sights for munitions in WWII).

"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
Wow! What a unique and interesting biographical picture book.
This would be an excellent add on for a WWII Unit, a study featuring strong independent women, or insects/spiders. I could see it being of use in a variety of ways for a children's library.
It was really well written and laid out. The illustrations were also clear and enhanced the story.

Who knew that scary spiders helped to save lives during the World Wars? Nan is a genius who had an idea and turned it into a reality using a variety of spiders. She is truly an inspiration for other young girls who have simple, yet important ideas. The book was interesting and informative, but the real star of the show is the artwork! I would definitely put this in an elementary classroom!

This picture book biography introduces readers to Nan Songer, a self-taught scientist who helped the war effort in WWII by harvesting spider silks and experimenting with different ways to improve the quality, variety, and consistency of what she could offer to the war manufacturers using these materials. The book explains the science behind this very well, partly because the author had access to Songer's unpublished manuscript about her work. Instead of having to be vague or speculate, the author was able to explain her efforts and experiments in detail.

This book is eye-opening and fascinating, and is a great introduction for kids to how people can apply the scientific method to make a difference in unique, unexpected ways. The illustrations are also excellent. I appreciate how this book honors an unsung hero and makes people aware of this unexpected, unusual part of World War II history.

This nonfiction well illustrated book is the story of one amateur entomologist who made a significant contribution to fighting the second World War with her overwhelming interest in spiders which led to an intense study of their silk which was put to important use during WW2. It is written in story form with sidebars of facts and quotes from Nan Songer. As a youngster, Nan lived close by a renowned botanist, but Nan's overwhelming interest was bugs. She became aware that spider silk was vital to making the crosshairs in weapons and binoculars, so she did extensive studies to find the best answers to fill that need. Excellent information!
The illustrations by Anne Lambelet are imaginative, delightfully colorful, and very meaningful!
Well suited for reading WITH someone any age from 7 and up, including ESL, and great for gifting to everyone, but especially to a school or your local public library!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected eGalley on NetGalley Reader from Astra Publishing House | Calkins Creek via NetGalley. Pub Date May 6, 2025
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