Silk & Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Silk & Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider Elizabeth Bush Lasky, Kathryn . Silk & Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider; illus. with photographs by Christopher G. Knight . Candlewick, 2011. [64p]. ISBN 978-0-7636-4222-8 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-7. The title may be worthy of a YA romance novel, but Lasky’s account of arachnologist Greta Binford is actually a closer cousin to the Scientists in the Field entries. After an opening chapter on the characteristics of spiders, readers meet Binford and learn how her childhood on an Indiana farm awakened her interest in nature, how a college trip to Peru honed that interest into a scholarly pursuit, and how a spider infestation at the Indiana statehouse drew her deeper into the the study of the Loxosceles genus. Binford’s effort to trace the migration of Loxosceles from South American to North America (that, at least, is the theory, which she acknowledges might not pan out) leads her to field exploration in the Dominican Republic, where she and her small team of colleagues crawl around market stalls, investigate abandoned buildings, and turn over rocks in search of the elusive Loxosceles taino. Since the book comes to a screeching halt with their success, readers may wonder exactly what will happen with the specimens they bring back to their Oregon lab. Many readers, though, will be so pleased to follow the hunt for the creepy little venomous critter that they may not miss the scientific follow-through at all. Knight’s photographs, a satisfying balance of spider close-ups and working-scientist documentation, are certain to lure browsers. A “Glossary of Spiders” with thumbnail [End Page 283] photos and page references is included, along with an index and list of print and online sources for further reading. [End Page 284] Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois