The Spider and the Fly sat on my shelf for years collecting dust. The text is based on the 1829 poem by Mary Howitt. Mary was born in England and was the daughter of Quakers. She and her husband Willam Howitt wrote over 180 books .
I finally read it to my class today and immediately fell in love with Tony Diterlizzi’s detailed, dark illustrations. After discussing the text, students examined the trait of voice by looking at three parts: the text itself, the illustrations, and the letter written by the spider. Readers described the text’s voice as serious, spooky, formal, creepy, and prim and proper. The illustrations were seen as old-fashioned, scary, illustrative, and spooky. The letter from Spider was described as sarcastic, warning-like, mischievous, tricky, and wicked.
You can visit Tony Diterlizzi’s website at www.diterlizzi.com .
Leave a Reply