The Not-So Itty-Bitty Spiders

Reviewed by: Deidre Walsh - Goodall Memorial Library, Sanford, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: May 4, 2016

Review

This is the first in a projected New Series called Olive & Beatrix. The series is aimed towards young readers who are done with the early reader books, but aren't quite ready for longer & more detailed chapter books. The stars of the series are twin sisters Olive & Beatrix. Beatrix was born exactly at midnight on the full moon and is a witch. Her sister Olive was born 2 minutes later and is a "normal" child. Olive loves science and Beatrix loves magic. Secondary, but important, characters are Beatrix's talking pet pig Sir Houston (who provides plenty of sarcastic humor), and Olive's best friend & fellow science nerd Eddie. The sisters don't get along and are constantly playing jokes on each other. One day a prank goes horribly wrong and a bunch of giant spiders are created. The Olive, Eddie, Beatrix, & even Sir Houston, have to work together to turn the spiders back to normal size. This book is graphic novel style. It combines text and lots of dialogue bubbles. The font is large and easy to read. The text is not overwhelming for newly independent readers. There is also a plethora of illustrations throughout that help the reader and flow with the story. The illustrations are done in purples, greens, blues and change hues to add to the humor or darker parts of the story. There is plenty of humor is this novel, with a few laugh out loud moments for the target audience, which is 1st grade through struggling 4th grade. The story is fun and mildly scary (especially if you don't like spiders). This is a good choice for fans of humor & fantasy, Geronimo Stilton style books, and Angie Sage's series Araminta Spookie. A worthy purchase for most libraries.

Overall Book Score: good