A bit to golly aren't tarantulas amazing. They are and don't need any condescending praise. Lots of pictures, references and an index. ( )

595.4

Design points: loose tarantulas on the pages--shudder! Graphically captivating layout if rather horrific photos. But that's the appeal to young readers. Plenty of wow facts to keep kids reading. Informal tone, excitement of the science. Describes science in an unstuffy way...storing spiders in salad and candy containers, using paint from Wal-Mart to mark spiders, poking sticks into holes and Sam talking to the spiders.

Booktalk: How many of you love tarantulas? (Show best picture from book.) Let me tell you about a man who is so passionate about tarantulas that his job is to get up close and personal with them and study how they behave, where they live, what they eat. Sam Marshall is a spider scientist who works in a spider lab full of containers holding five hundred live tarantulas. But he doesn't just work in a lab. Sam also travels to countries wehre lots of tarantulas live. In a South American rainforest Sam will poke into burrows in the ground trying to get tarantulas to come running out so he can capture them. Now this may not be your idea of a good time. But by studying tarantulas, Sam has learned a lot of interesting things about them. Such as tarantulas bites don't kill people. And that tarantulas would rather hide than attack you. And if a tarantula's leg is injured, it will pull it off and eat it! And although you might think a tarantula is a pretty scary creature, it might someday save your life. There are studies looking into whether a tarantula's venom might help heart attack victims or stop the growth of brain tumors...(finish somehow)

This is a story about a scientist and his tryst exploring spiders. It mainly follows tarantulas but explains why spiders are important and the types of things spiders do that are beneficial. ( )

summary:
An amazing attribute to earth's biggest and hairiest spider, the tarantula. Sam Marshall, is a spider scientist and this book follows him while he explores a rain forest n French Guiana. without fear and never being bit, he searches the forest floor for tarantula burrows trying to get a closer look.

Personal Reaction:
I do not like spiders and was shocked at myself that I chose this book! These spiders are very interesting. The pictures are amazing. This a perfect example of how someone followed their passion and made a career out of it.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. Find pictures of one of the different tarantulas mentioned in the text, cut out and post on poster board with information on that particular species.
2. Write a story about what you would do if you ever ran in to a Goliath Bird Eater (largest spider on Earth).