Silk and Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider - Hardcover

Lasky, Kathryn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763642223 ISBN 13: 9780763642228

Publisher: Candlewick, 2011

Synopsis

Join a researcher on a passionate hunt for poisonous spiders, captured in the engaging prose and stunning photos of a masterful team.

Love them, hate them — spiders are feared and misunderstood by many, but certainly not by biology professor and arachnologist Greta Binford. Eager and willing to share her knowledge, she allowed New York Times best-selling author Kathryn Lasky and noted photographer Christopher G. Knight to accompany her on a trek to the Caribbean in search of the elusive Loxosceles — the deadly recluse spider — whose venom may hold in its DNA the answer to many scientific questions. We see firsthand her fearless search (sometimes enlisting the help of local schoolchildren), through outdoor markets, garbage dumps, and the desertlike interior of the Dominican Republic. A lively, informative narrative and intimate photos of everything from careful venom-milking in a lab to multicolored spiders in shimmering webs are likely to lure even the most committed arachnophobe.

About this title

About the Author

Kathryn Lasky writes award-winning books for children across all genres. Her many illustrated nonfiction titles include the Newbery Honor book Sugaring Time as well as One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin; Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles; and John Muir: America’s First Environmentalist. Kathryn Lasky and her husband, Christopher G. Knight, live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Christopher G. Knight is a documentary filmmaker as well as photographer. His photographs illustrate Kathryn Lasky’s Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles and Sugaring Time.

From Booklist

Lasky and Knight, the writer and photographer who created books such as Surtsey: The Newest Place on Earth (1992) and Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles (2001), now introduce arachnologist Greta Binford and the spiders she studies. Beginning with a close look at spiders, the book discusses Binfords childhood interest in the natural world as well as her research on Loxosceles spiders, carried on in her lab at Lewis and Clark College and on a field trip to the Dominican Republic. There, she and two students collect spiders that may help answer questions about the migration of their ancestors millions of years ago. Many excellent color photos and clearly drawn maps illustrate the text, which creates an appealing portrayal of the scientist and her fascination with her work. Source lists of books and websites are appended along with a glossary of spiders that includes small photos, scientific and common names, and page references. Pair this intriguing book with Sy Montgomerys Tarantula Scientist (2004). Grades 5-8. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0763642223
• ISBN 13: 9780763642228
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 64