The Spinfords

A very worthwhile moral tale for the young reader – this could be read out to a youngster, or perhaps their own choice if they're confident enough to hit a whole page of text at once.  A family of spiders have a circus show where they act as trapeze-styled artists, flinging themselves around and leaving trails of web to create huge and audience-friendly picture designs.  The problem for them arises when the new child in the show wants to make what appears to be very audience-UNfriendly abstract art…  The 'be yourself' message is fine – us adults know it's not exactly how the world works, but we'll let that pass for now – and the book delivers it very well.  The script is very good, and the look is great – a sheen to the artwork, a digital air-brushing I'd guess that gives character to the spider portraits and their surroundings.  Full of little beats that the intended audience would enjoy (the exasperated daddy spider putting four hands in front of his eyes to block out what he doesn't want to acknowledge), this is a worthwhile book to consider.

This is a wonderfully illustrated tale of webs like Charlotte’s.  Our new baby spider builds his webs differently than everyone else.  But with some patience and some practice everyone can see that different is not a bad thing.  Too long for a librarian’s story time, but if your kids ever wonder what happens to the spiders after Charlotte’s Web, this is the story for you.  (No real connection to Charlotte’s Web).

What an imaginative way to get across the message of being confident and true to yourself.

The Spinfords are a famous web spinning family that entertains insects far and wide. They have a baby, Salvatore, who will joint the act as he gets older. Salvatore is smart and creative and develops amazing skills weaving webs. When the day arrives for the big performance test to see if he is ready to join the family act, Grandpa Sebastian is the judge and jury. Salvatore creates an amazing web in record time, but it is not a typical web and his parents are distraught. They walk out and tell him he is not ready to join them. Salvatore is upset that his family does not understand his artistry and are not willing to be open to his creativity. Grandpa Sebastian, on the other hand, encourages him to stick to his beliefs and not give up. Can Salvatore get his family on his side? How will he get to perform with the family act? 

This book could be read as a read aloud to young children by their parents, used in a classroom and even read independently by late primary students. Great illustrations with fun details. The only thing I did not like completely was the font. At times it was hard to read, but when I made the pages larger (ebook format) I was able to read it.