Once upon a time when I was about thirteen, I made a three-year-old cry by guilting her out over squishing a spider.
I have always been partial to my little eight-legged friends.



Noelle is deathly afeared of spiders. Chris (that's our brother. I don't talk about him nearly as often as I talk about Noelle, thus the clarification) used to torment her by pretending to throw spiders in her hair (sometimes, it wasn't pretend and then I'd have to dive in to save the spider)
Noelle taught her children to fear spiders. B used to corral them on the floor and sing to them. Now she, like the narrator of this story, is trying to love (well, re-love) spiders or, at least, like them a little better since being indoctrinated by her arachnophobic mother. My nephew, though, still has a way to go.
Thanks, Noelle. This is why spiders bite you. You're horrible.



Anyway, I feel she needs this book. She has nearly the same success rate at loving spiders as the aforementioned narrator (there are a lot of splat marks throughout the story) and while I'm at it, I'll get a copy for Gabe's fragile flower of a friend who is also terribly afraid of happy little arachnids who are innocent and helpful.

I just don't understand why more people don't love spiders!

LOVE!! Interactive, funny, and so informative! Win!

Age: 1st-3rd grade
STEM: Math

Nip that arithmophobia in the bud with this nerve-soothing primer on our math-filled world. Spoiler alert: it's everywhere--even in your cookies!

I love that Barton has created a series of books that seek to "decriminalize" things that our culture may collectively dislike, include spiders, bees, and, now, math.

An adorable picture book that will help student to see all the places that they see math in the world around them. A way to demystify everyone’s least favorite school subject and make it something you would want to explore. I’m trying to love math takes our comunal math trauma and attempts to make future students less afraid of math. Can’t wait to share it with my classroom :)

An absolutely delightful book for pre-schoolers and early elementary kids. My grandchildren love looking at the opening pictures of a variety of spiders and have identified their favorite. The young narrator of the book explores the nature of spiders with humor and factual information while trying to endear himself to these somewhat ugly creatures. In the end, he finds redeeming value, but now is confronted with the equally ugly cockroach! Can he learn to love these as well?

I loved the playful tone of this book, but it bothered me that the terms venomous and poisonous were used interchangeably, which is scientifically inaccurate. Venomous--it bites you. Poisonous--you bite it. Spiders are venomous, but would only be poisonous if we ate them and were harmed as a result.

Full marks for great facts about spiders. Minus points for smashing several spiders throughout the book. :( I won't be able to use this in my storytime that I'm making for a kid who LOVES spiders.

Informative, hilarious, and illustrations that rock (haha!)

I can't wait to share this book with my students! Math is everywhere, so you might as well love it!!

Recommended to me by one of my storytime families. Very cute, with arresting illustrations & fonts that will keep kids' eyes occupied. Fun pages invite the reader to interact with the book, which toddlers/pre-schoolers reliably enjoy.