A Little Help from Her Friends! Nothing Scares Spider! by S. Marendaz

SPIDER IS PLANNING A BIG ADVENTURE!

SHE WAS GOING TO BE AN EXPLORER.

"I AM GOING TO SEE THE WHOLE WIDE YARD!"

Her friends, Caterpillar, Bumblebee, and Ladybug, who lack her bite and web-weaving powers, are frightened for her.

"WHAT ABOUT FEARSOME FISH, HUNGRY BIRDS, AND THE CLEVER CAT???" THEY ASK.

Spider chuckles at her feckless friends. Spiders don't fear anything! she boasts.

And what about THEM, alone without Spider's defensive powers?

Spider expansively promises to leave a lifeline of web behind her for fearful friends to tug on if they need her powers.

BUT ONLY FOR EMERGENCIES!" SPIDER INSISTS.

Freedom at last, thinks Spider, making it to the tall trees, oblivious to the peckish redbird with an open beak about to dive down and have her for lunch. But suddenly there's TWANG and a tug on the web from Ladybug, who has detected an interloper in her flower. Dragged back, Spider grumpily points out the it's only Bumblebee backing into the bloom. Unaware of the bird, Spider hustles back to cool half of her feet in the pond, where a hungry Fearsome Fish is rising to the surface about to suck her in.

"TWANG!"

Back snaps Spider to where Caterpillar is cowering from something big and frightful behind him.

IT'S YOUR OWN SHADOW," SHOUTS SPIDER. "THIS WEB IS FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY!"

But when Spider returns to continue her adventure, she finds herself finally facing FEARSOME FROG--alone.

If ever Spider has needed a few good friends, it's now, in S. Marendaz's Nothing Scares Spider! (Tiger Tales, 2021), as the tables are turned in this funny story that proves that a friend in need is a friend indeed! And Spider learns that perhaps adventuring is better done with a retinue of those friends you can trust. Kids will enjoy seeing Carly Gledhill's hapless comic critters discovering their courage when they come to the rescue of their friend. It's one for all and all for one, in this story of fear and friendship.