I Love Guinea-Pigs; Spider Watching

A guinea-pig's transparently commonsense attitude to life usually brings out the best in people not least Dick King-Smith who shares with us some more of his excellent understanding of the nature of animals. He seems merely to ramble on, but we find that, rambling with him, we very soon know a lot more about looking after guinea-pigs, body and soul, than we could find in many a purely instructional book. He perceptively observes, for instance, that a daily diet of hay and pellets is boring not only for the guinea-pig but for its owner too (well, you know what I mean!). Anita Jeram's pictures are a delight.

Spider Watching takes a narrative turn as a young arachnophobe rapidly overcomes her irrational prejudices when introduced to the facts and feats of spiderdom by two cousins whose cobwebs are their pride and joy. Around the story is woven a web of spider information and some nice original observations - spiders aren't the only ones who spin, darn, and catch their food in nets, for instance. Alison Wisenfeld is an illustrator all too rarely met with - her delicate pictures of arachnids and insects dextrously complement the author's text.

The only consistent feature about this 'Read and Wonder' series is the good standard of physical production of its members. Apart from that they're each very individual and different, which is good - series blight is common and pernicious - but it also means that some titles are far better than others. At their best they are full of lightly-imparted wisdom and pleasant humour, all spaciously and unhurriedly delivered with the author and illustrator in close harmony; amongst recent additions to the series here are two such.