Spyder

Spyder is the delightful follow-up to last year’s enjoyable debut from Matt Carr, Superbat. Spyder is, probably unsurprisingly, a secret agent but it’s certainly not an easy job when you’re so small. While relaxing in the attic, she’s summoned on her spy phone by Miss Moneyspider and instructed to remove a disruptive bluebottle from 7 Fleming Road, before it lands on Tommy’s birthday cake and spoils his party. Spyder needs to rely on her training and spy-kit which, amongst other things, contains a very unconvincing disguise and a banana. Danger, excitement and numerous acts of bravery await. All is going well until, with time running out, Spyder ends up trapped in the bathtub…

This book is an absolute joy for children and adults alike.  The style of writing is reminiscent of the wonderful Traction Man books by Mini Grey, and every page is full of clever wordplay, jokes and spy-related puns. Some of these are clearly aimed at adults (Danger was afoot!) and will definitely go over the head of a young audience but won’t affect their enjoyment of the story in any way. The way that many of the pages have been divided up gives the book the feel of a comic strip. The palette of colours used in the illustrations are extremely bright and colourful, and add to the sense of energy that the book has. Also, make sure you don’t miss the amusing twist in the final illustration after the end papers.

I’d highly recommend this for children between the ages of 4-7 as laughter and excitement is guaranteed. Matt Carr is carving out a niche for himself in the children’s book world and I’m already excited to see what he will produce next.