by Jan Beccaloni and Namasri Niumim
Hardback, £14.99
A gorgeous children’s non-fiction book stuffed with excellent facts and Namasri Niumim’s accurate and appealing illustrations (see inside the book here). As with all the best children’s books, it is good for adults too. The Secret World of Spider Webs is hugely popular at Riverside, and not only because I bought five copies in one month to give as gifts…
Author Jan Beccaloni is Senior Curator of spiders (and more) at the Natural History Museum, and has several spiders named after her, so she knows her stuff. Readers can have confidence in learning about and identifying types of webs and thinking about the behaviours and goals of the animals that made them.
I learnt a lot from this book and found that the foiled pictures of selected webs made it extra special. Hurray for the proper index, glossary and further reading too, turning a good reference book into a great one. See p. 42 for picture of the extremely appealing and well-named cucumber spider. Smashing.
Review by Bethan