Dedicated Review
Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: October 31, 2010
Emily and the Spider
By John Richard Dony
Reading Level: Ages 8-12
Hardcover, Paperback & Electronic Format: 96 pages
Publisher: Dewberry Press (Reprint: October 31, 2012)
What to expect: Adventure, Friendship, Family, Animals
Adventurers and thrill seekers wanted! Emily and her unlikely group of friends zoom off on a fast-paced journey through the animal and plant filled wilderness.
Set on the edge of the jungle ruled by Stripe, a snarly tiger who claims to be King of the Jungle, is a large white house. In it resides a young girl named Emily, her parents and a nasty housekeeper. Starved for friends, Emily seeks companionship in a talking spider. When tragedy strikes and Emily’s only friend meets her death, a baby spider, Bes, takes her attention and the pair set off to find the orphaned spider’s father. Throughout their journey, the group of two expands to four and the group’s friendship and trust is put to test by the treacherous landscape of the jungle and monkeys who work for the evil and hungry tiger, Stripe. When Bes’s father is found, the story takes an unexpected turn: he wants nothing to do with his little spiderling. Has the journey all been in vain? No. John Richard Dony crafts his story to consistently carry the strong theme of camaraderie. He shows that hardships can create lifetime friendships. The story comes complete circle for a good, old-fashioned happy ending, but not before Stripe claims a prize for his dinner.
While not for the faint-at-heart, the themes of friendship and inner-strength will resonate amongst children that have had to move to a new home. This is an exciting and shocking yarn for young readers that thrive on action and enjoy the unexpected.
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