The Kuia and the Spider

by Patricia Grace, Robyn Kahukiwa (Illustrator)

Once there was a kuia who made mats and baskets.
In the corner of her kitchen lived a spider who made webs.

Since its publication in 1981, Patricia Grace and Robyn Kahukiwa's The Kuia and the Spider has become a New Zealand classic.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 1982

About the author

Patricia Grace is a major New Zealand novelist, short story writer and children’s writer, of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa descent, and is affiliated to Ngati Porou by marriage. Grace began writing early, while teaching and raising her family of seven children, and has since won many national and international awards, including the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize for fiction, the Deutz Medal for Fiction, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, widely considered the most prestigious literary prize after the Nobel. A deeply subtle, moving and subversive writer, in 2007 Grace received a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature.

Reviews

[Laura Skeaff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite children's books that I did not read as a child. The illustrations are magnificent. When I first read it, I was disappointed by the ending - shouldn't the kuia and the spider resolve their argument? But the more times I read it (as you do with children's books, over and over again, sometimes in one sitting) the more I appreciated the lack of closure. The reader has the space to forgive the kuia and the spider for their stubbornness and choose to focus instead on their wonderful qualities and handiwork. My three year old also loves this book.

[Jack Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another class book.
Smashing them out this week

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books as a kid, it still pops into my head from time to time. And I love the illustrations by Robyn Kahukiwa

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this story but don't know how well it went as a read aloud - perhaps for a K-3 class group but not for preschool storytimes?

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Kuia and the Spider” by Patricia Grace, Robyn Kahukiwa (Illustrator)
*** Kuia (old lady) and the house spider argue about who is the best weaver – of flax and of web. Their grandchildren appreciate the workmanship, but the best winner is yet to be decided.
- - -