The Spider and the Fly

Based on a Poem by: Mary Howitt

 Illustrated by: Tony Diterlizzi

©2002 Simon & Schuster

28 pages

Poetry

            This book is written in a poem form and is based on the tale by Mary Howitt, written in 1829. The spider wants to trick the fly into his home, which is a web. The spider tries to allure the fly in every way possible. The spider gives compliments and tricks the fly into thinking there will be no harm in going into the spider’s home. The fly has her guard up in the beginning of the poem then by the end her guard is down and she finds herself in the spider’s house, the web, before she knows it. The story ends with a moral to always have your guard up and never allow others to trick you into doing something you never wanted to do in the beginning.

            The illustrations are drawn in black graphite pencil and the dark color shows the reader the darkness that takes place in the story. The evilness of the spider is shown in the dark color for the reader to see what is happening to the poor fly.

            The poem could be used in any elementary classroom. In a younger classroom, the book could be used to introduce learning about spiders and flies in Science. While in an older classroom, the book could be used for character education purposes. The poem could also create a writing prompt about someone that has tricked the student to do something in their life. The students could write about that experience in a poem form of writing.

            This book won the Caldecott Honor Award in 2003. 

Watch the author's ideas behind the illustrations of this poem!