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Summary
Summary
A wild ride through more than 15 revved-up paintings showing Miss Spider and her new husband, Holly, in the bug buggy marketplace. "Kirk's seemingly boundless imagination zips along at impressive speed." - Publishers Weekly, starred review
Author Notes
The uncommonly unique imagination of David Kirk has an equally uncommon source. "I found a small copy of The Gnomes' Almanac by a little-known Viennese author Ida Bohtta Morpugo. It was a cutout book simply subtitled: A Book for Children. In it, the pictures and verse about bugs, butterflies, and mice really came to life." That got him drawing and writing. Before that he made children's toys by hand. "I love making stories. The bookmaking process is a liberation for me from the years I toiled to produce handmade items. I think the life of a children's book author is bliss." Kirk lives in upstate New York, with his wife and three daughters.For more information about David Kirk, visit: scholastic.com/tradebooks
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2Upon receiving an invitation to tea from her mother, Miss Spider takes her husband's advice and shops for a new car. (Only on the jacket copy is Holley recognized as Miss Spider's new husband.) Together they test drive several fanciful models: some powered by wings and jumping legs, and others with leaves, grass, twigs, and other plant parts. At last, they try out the "Inferno," powered by matches, but the steering locks, the brakes fail, and they jump to avoid an explosion. Miss Spider then decides to return to the first car she saw, the blue one at Bub Bumble Bee's. However, Holley has secretly arranged for Moth Sue to purchase that car as a surprise for his wife. Miss Spider's disappointment at missing out on her favorite vehicle turns to delight when she spies the dazzling, "just right" little car on her own lawn. The energetic verse conveys the movement of the vehicles. Full-color, cartoonlike paintings, rendered in jewel tones, depict each eventful test drive on full- or double-page spreads. With judicious use of light, varied perspectives, and a fluid line that indicates motion, the lavish, enthusiastic pictures extend the text. This outing will be good for storytimes or one-on-one sharing so children can explore the details of the illustrations. Young readers will enjoy this exuberant companion to the earlier books.Cynthia K. Richey, Mt. Lebanon Public Library, Pittsburgh, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kirk's seemingly boundless imagination zips along at impressive speed in this follow-up to Miss Spider's Tea Party and Miss Spider's Wedding. Though some youngsters may not be as familiar with or interested in the themes surrounding those social events, they may well find this latest adventure from Miss Spiderin which she and husband Holley set out on a car-buying expeditionsets their wheels spinning. There are indeed plenty of cool wheels on these pages, from buggies fashioned from a snail ("the Escargot") to a grasshopper get-up (with "flexo-flea spring loaded legs") to a rolling box of matches (a.k.a. a matchbox car, one of "Super Sid's Flamin' Values"). Electric hues and a 3-D effect (e.g., in a car with wings, Miss Spider and Holley fly close-up and crystal clear, while Kirk suggests a soft-focus landscape below composed of river and trees) charge the high-energy oil paintings. Childrenas well as Miss Spider's adult fanswill revel in this witty author's fluent, rhyming verse and scattered droll puns (e.g., when Holley thinks they're going too fast, "`There might be hungry rats down there./ We have no way of knowing.'/ `How fine it is,' Miss Spider laughed,/ `To feel my toppy blowing'"). The eight-legged heroine's many fans will delight in the hint that she may next be shopping for a boat. By any transportation mode, this personable arachnid goes the distance. Ages 4-7. (Sept.) FYI: Kirk is at work on a screenplay for an animated film starring Miss Spider, for Universal Studios. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Miss Spider and husband Holley shop for a car, test driving a series of vehicles, including ones composed of leaves, flowers, and other plant parts. Kirk's slick, gaudily colored paintings are a bit more imaginative than the singsongy, forced verse. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
For Miss Spider's fans (Miss Spider's Wedding, 1995, etc.), another visit to the long-lashed, pointy-nosed arachnid and her garish, high-gloss world. Miss Spider and her fuss-budget husband Holley are test-driving cars cunningly fashioned from shells, plant and insect parts, and matchboxes (will youngsters pick up on the visual pun?). Miss Spider loves the first car she sees, but Holley insists on trying others, then--for no discernible reason-- surreptitiously arranges to have her first choice delivered to her home as a surprise. The inconsequential narrative, spun out in doggerel verse, seems to exist mainly as an excuse for the clever pictures. The last page promises--threatens--a boat-buying expedition as a sequel. (Picture book. 4-7)
Booklist Review
Ages 4^-8. Fun-loving, adventurous Miss Spider is back, along with her new husband, the shy and fearful Holley. The two agree that they need a car, but Holley worries about each model. It seems his fears are not unjustified--the cleft-chin villain of Miss Spider's Wedding (1995) reappears as a nefarious car dealer. Like Miss Spider's previous two adventures, this one is told in rhyme. However, the text is not as long, and because the book's humor is not as adult oriented, children may find the story easier to understand. Once again Kirk's oil paintings, with their shiny reflections and softly iridescent glow, look as if they were created with a computer (but fortunately they have none of the resolution problems of computer art). The fanciful vehicles, Miss Spider's jazzy appearance and personality, and the loving relationship between the newlywed arachnids will make this a popular choice in libraries. --Susan Dove Lempke