How Spiders Got Eight Legs (Steck-Vaughn Pair-It Book, Early Fluency Stage 3) - Softcover

Katherine Mead

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0817272720 ISBN 13: 9780817272722

Publisher: Steck-Vaughn Company, 1998

Synopsis

Hoping to beat the other animals in a race without working too hard, Spider asks Great Hippo for different legs, before ending up with the eight he has today.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Gr 1-3--This simple porquoi story tells the tale of a devious two-legged spider who wants to win a race. He first petitions the wish-granting Great Hippo for two powerful legs like those of the ostrich. However, he finds that he simply cannot run on those legs, and so repeats his request until finally the hippo gives him eight cheetah legs. In return for granting his requests, Great Hippo requires only that Spider answer one question honestly when the time comes. When he cheats in order to win, Great Hippo's question comes in to play, and because Spider answers truthfully, he gets eight legs of his very own that work quite nicely, thank you. Employing a beginning-reader format (though not written with a beginning-reader vocabulary), the book is divided into five very short chapters. The writing style is pedestrian and the cartoon illustrations, while large and bright, are undistinguished. For a spider story with more pizzazz, try Eric Kimmel's Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock (Holiday, 1988).

Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Steck-Vaughn Company
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0817272720
• ISBN 13: 9780817272722
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 24
• Illustrator: Carol O'Malia