I almost gave 4 stars instead of 5 because Helen is a cartoony spider instead of more naturalistic however I know some people (me) get The Ick looking at spiders so this is a nice way to learn without manyeyesmanylegsfangs

I’m Team No Spiders but this is a good book for learning and discussing.

However ( )

Love this book! This book is about a spider who was dropped off at the zoo. The spider then goes from exhibit to exhibit making webs, and then eating all the flies bothering the animals. The spider is thanked by the animals, but the zoo keeper doesn't like the cobwebs in the exhibit and demands they are cleaned. When the cobwebs are gone, the flies come back and bother the animals all over again. Then, everyone learns the importance of spiders! I thought this book was so cute and can be used in a science unit, or even when talking about friendships or different abilities. ( )

summary: In this book, a boy drops a spider (in a box) off at the steps of the zoo. The spider ends up escaping the box and going into the buildings with the zoo animals. There are a bunch of flies all around and the spider makes a web to catch them all! The book is great to explain how spiders are useful to us.
reflection: I am not a fan of spiders, personally. After reading this book, I realized how useful spiders are in the world. Although I don't really like sharing my personal space with spiders, maybe keeping them around sometimes isn't such a bad idea. I liked the idea in the book that there's one spider that is keeping the whole zoo free from flies. That was funny and sounds like a hard job for just one little creature!

I can't help but admire how nonchalantly this one wears its hypocrisy and self-interest on its shoulder--be nice to the spiders because they eat the flies; and as for the flies, fuck them, they taste good. ( )

This book is about a little boy who takes a spider to the zoo and wants the zoo keeper to take care of it. At first, the zoo keeper finds out that the spider can help keep the flies off of the other animals so he keeps him at the zoo.