Right in time for National Poetry Month (April), we have Spi-ku: A Clutter of Short Verse on Eight Legs by Leslie Bulion and illustrated by Robert Meganck.

Author Leslie Bulion has a subtly playful approach to spiders.

All spiders are arachnids
But some arachnids
mite not be spiders.

If you like that kind of word play, you are in for a real treat.

Illustrator Robert Meganck also has a subtle sense of humor. For example, in the front endpapers he shows a fly near a spider web. The back endpapers shows the same spider with a small webbed up package. He leaves it up to the reader to figure out what happened to the fly.

Intermingled between poems of different forms — in spite of the title, not all are haiku — is detailed information about spiders, from what they eat to how they build webs.

If the text isn’t enough, there’s extensive back matter as well:

• Glossary
• A Few Notes on Poetic Form
• Spider Identification (scientific names of the spiders in the book)
• A “Spider Hunt” activity suggestion
• For Further Study (Books and websites)
• A cool info-graphic of the relative sizes of all the spiders
• Identification of the spiders on the cover.

Readers are likely to find something new every time they read the book.

Spi-ku is perfect for budding arachnologists and poets alike. Investigate a copy today!

Related Activity Suggestions:

1. Visit Leslie Bulion’s website to download an awesome teachers guide and folding spider booklet activity.
2. Read and discuss “Allowables” by Nikki Giovanni (MSU Poetry websitefor example).
3. Reading Rockets has whole page about National Poetry Month, including interviews with poets and activity suggestions.
4. Write a spider poem.
5. See our beginners guide to identifying spiders (previous post)
6. Check out more children’s books about spiders at Science Books for Kids.

Reading age : 8 – 12 years
Publisher : Peachtree Publishing Company; Illustrated edition (March 1, 2021)
ISBN-10 : 1682631923
ISBN-13 : 978-1682631928

Disclosure: This book is my personal copy. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.