A FAMOUS SPIDER BOOK
And Why I Hate It
By Natalie Bright
I have read Eric Carle’s The Very Busy Spider thousands of times. My son loved it and insisted we read it at bedtime. Every. Single. Night.
Never mind that I had joined a book club which sent two new picture books each month. He wasn’t interested.
The sheer drudgery of reading that book over and over was almost too much. My husband and I took turns reading in goofy voices for the animal parts, seeing who could make the other one laugh first. To break up the drudgery we played a game of find the fly. This book followed our son through the years with only a toddler vocabulary of “Uhh – Uhhh!” as he pointed to the fly and then to a three year old vocabulary of “There it is!”
Feeling exhausted and desperate one night, I thought of a compromise. We would read two stories every night; one of his choosing and one of my choosing. My son thought this over for several long seconds. “Okay,” he says. “But we have to read busy spider two times.”
Even though he proved my theory that kids are always one step ahead of their mothers, I did feel victory. I would be opening his mind to new and wonderful picture books, even though I’d be reading about that dreaded spider twice as much.
Today, inspired by my critique partners posts about Why I Write, as a writer, I stand in awe of that book. Now I understand what drives me to write for children. It’s because I want a Very Busy Spider book too.
In a bookcase full of glow-in-the dark covers, pop-up gizmos, and celebrity ramblings, I think most children’s authors want their book to be the one kids choose every night for story time. We dream of our book being the one a librarian removes from her shelf and places into the waiting arms of an emerging reader. And better still, if our story is the one that an adult remembers from childhood, and then reads over and over to a child, our purpose in life will have been fulfilled.
Many years later, as we unpacked from a move, both of my sons searched frantically through piles of boxes. My youngest found his treasure; Dear Dr. Sillybear by Dian Curtis Regan. And our teenager let out a sigh of relief as he clutched a book to his chest. Right along side collections of Hank the Cowdog and military histories, The Very Busy Spider still remains in my oldest son’s room.
With all due respect to Mr. Carle, did I mention I still cringe every time I see that book? It’s a love-hate thing.
Wordsmith Six 
I have SO been there! My oldest loved Are You My Mother and Hop On Pop. My middle loved I Saw It On Mulberry Street and my youngest loved Gog Dog Go and Red Fish Blue Fish. I had them memorized for a long time. My grandkids love Where the Wild Things Are (one of my faves).
Go Dog Go – I loved that book too! Isn’t it amazing how a book can become such a big part of your memories and have such an impact, even as an adult. Stories are very powerful things.
Go Dog, Go was a favorite of my oldest daughter, too. My youngest looooved the Very Hungry Catapillar (think that was it’s name!) Both loved Dinasaur Roar! I got lucky, in that they didn’t mind different books. But they did always came back to their favorites.
And yes, Natalie, I too would like to write stories with that kind of impact.
Keep at it Julia; you’re well on your way. Thanks for checking out Wordsmith Six.
With my daughter (12 years ago) it was, _Miss Spider’s Tea Party_. One day recently I realized I no longer have the words memorized and felt sad about it. Fortunately, my son likes variety. Great post!
Miss Spider is a beautiful book. Thanks for following our blog.