The Eensy Weensy Spider Freaks Out! (Big-Time!) - Hardcover

Cummings, Troy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375865829 ISBN 13: 9780375865824

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

Artist Troy Cummings has created a clever spin-off of the "Eensy Weensy Spider" nursery rhyme in this humorous picture book, sure to appeal to kids and adults who also love fractured fairy tales.

The Eensy Weensy Spider climbed up the waterspout . . . and everyone knows what happens next! By the time the sun comes out to dry up all the rain, the Eensy Weensy Spider has freaked out over her washout, big-time! "There's no way I'm climbing back up that gutter!" she says. Eensy has lost her climbing courage, but with the help of her best ladybug friend, Polly, she begins to take on bigger and bigger climbing challenges until she's rewarded with the most spectacular view of outer space that any bug has ever seen! Hilarious text and a retro, graphic art style take this popular nursery rhyme to new heights. There's also a fun size chart on the end pages for kids to track Eensy's progress as she tackles taller and taller objects. Spin-offs of children's songs and nursery rhymes are very popular with kids, parents, and teachers!

About this title

About the Author

Troy Cummings has been drawing and writing since he was an eensy weensy kid. His illustrations have appeared in newspapers and magazines, on Web sites, on frozen-fish-stick packages, and in hospital waiting rooms. This is his first book. Troy Cummings lives in Indiana, where he steals jokes from his kids and his cats.

Reviews

Grade 1–3—Everyone knows the old nursery rhyme, but this clever picture book focuses on what happens between the spider's being washed out of the waterspout and finding the courage to climb it again. Eensy, embarrassed by her fall, goes into hiding and vows to keep all eight legs on the ground, until her ladybug friend, Polly, encourages her to start small. Eensy faces her fears and climbs a potted plant, then a fireplug, a dog, and a mailbox. Her confidence growing, she scales higher and higher objects, until finally the rocket she climbs takes her to the Moon. With a clever text full of witty asides (the newspaper Spider Insider: All the News That's Fit to Spin covers the story); comical, cartoon illustrations featuring Eensy in a striped scarf; and energetic pacing, this title offers a contemporary take on an old favorite that remains grounded in the emotional world of a child.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375865829
• ISBN 13: 9780375865824
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40