Miss Spider's Tea Party: The Counting Book

Miss Spider

by David Kirk

A sturdy board book edition enables young readers to count to twelve with Miss Spider as she looks for insect friends to play with, in an early reader's counting book that features bold illustrations and adapted, simplified text.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Counting, Juvenile, Mathematics, Animals

34 pages, Board Book

First published March 1, 1997

About the author

David Kirk is the creator of children's books that follow the character Miss Spider. Before writing books, he made colorful toys that were sold in hand-painted boxes. He was urged to write children's books when his toys caught the interest of a book packager. It wasn't difficult to figure out what he would use as characters in his stories: his daughter, Violet, had a liking for bugs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_K...


Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book I read to my young nephew many years ago. Acquired another copy for my son's library when he was little

[The Transmuted Tree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red 3rd

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to my youngest granddaughter. She loved counting all the insects on each page. Beautifully created book. The colors are gorgeous.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 4 year old loves this book read to her, or simply looking at the pictures, or counting together.

[Maki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these beautifully illustrated books.

[Tressa · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Kirk’s Miss Spider has made the big time since she first hit the bookshelves in 1994, with a slew of books, an animated series starring Kristin Davis as the voice of Miss Spider (Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends), and a video game. Kirk was a toymaker before becoming a children’s author, and was inspired by his bug-loving daughter Violet to write about bugs.

Kirk’s illustrations are crystal clear and full of bright colors and lively characters. Miss Spider’s Tea Party is the perfect picture book because it’s light on text and heavy on pictures. I love reading this book out loud to my 4-year-old son, Lucas, because it brings out the inner ham in me. I get to gasp like the beetles that run away and sob like Miss Spider into her tea towel when she realizes her potential friends have “all dashed off!”

Miss Spider is lonely and wishes for nothing more than for her table to be filled with hot tea, plenty of tea cakes, and good friends. Only problem is, the other bugs fear they might be the main course.

The story begins with “One lonely spider wished to play,” and progresses from there as a number of fellow insects are suspicious of the spider’s intentions and flee for their lives. One day she spies a wet, frightened moth and is able to demonstrate her kindness when she dries him off and sends him on his way. The moth spreads the word, and pretty soon Miss Spider has all the friends she needs. The message of Miss Spider’s Tea Party is this: Everyone deserves a chance to show his or her true colors.

Miss Spider's ABC is a companion book. If you have children ready to learn their numbers and letters and who also love bugs, these books will serve as fun learning tools.

Kirk isn’t just into bugs—he has written books outside the Miss Spider series. He is also the author of the adorable Biddle books, which include Little Mouse, Biddle Mouse; Little Pig, Biddle Pig; Little Bunny, Biddle Bunny; and Little Bird, Biddle Bird. My favorite of the series is Little Mouse, Biddle Mouse. It’s the story of a greedy little mouse who is sent on a mission to find food for his family, but ends up scarfing it all down until his belly pops out.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Spiders Tea Party The Counting Book is about a friendly spider that is trying to have a tea party for all of the other bugs. Although she finds throughout the book that many of the bugs are afraid of her. We find new things Miss Spider has done to set up e tea party and which bugs are rejecting her through numbers. For example "Eight tea cakes sat without one bite." The number eight is displayed and the sentence has it spelled out. The Pictures on each page show the number of things being counted very clearly and colorfully.
I think this book does a great job as an early reader, by giving a message about not to judge people based on what you have heard about them and actually getting to know them. This book also does a great job as a counting book, teaching kinds how to count from 1-12 through a story and detailed interesting pictures.
I would recommend this book to parents and children because there is a lot that can be learned. You can talk about bugs, counting, and also the message about how to give everyone a chance (even scary spiders.)

[Rhey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5 'Read it to me every now and then'

I have fond memories of having read this when I was little. After having gone through it again,

Story: I believe the rhyming couplets were well written and overall had a solid natural rhythm. I think the last part could have been worded better, but I do give credit that this board book did not end up as simple as "1 Teapot, 2 Teacups, 3 Biscuits, etc.". Instead, it takes readers through the different emotional encounters Miss Spider has as she tries to find someone to play with.

Illustrations: It is SUPER COLOURFUL! I enjoy the variety of scenes depicted for every number as well as the layout of the words in relation to the images. One particular image I liked was where Miss Spider was carrying a tray of tea cups and all the moths were flying away out of fear. However, the only aspect that made Miss Spider appear 'scary' was her comparative size to them. She was otherwise smiling in all of her yellowness.

[Byron Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for the first time as a child. This is the first title that came to memory when we were asked to bring children’s books into my English class, I remember this book because although it had a very difficult plot to understand, if a plot at all, it taught me to count.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Spoiler’s Ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spoiler Alert
The book starts off stating one insect and it’s current activity, then two insects names and their occupation and so on progressively through a few illustration filled pages. Children’s books have a way of teaching us very important lessons of life through odd childish ways. I would strongly recommend this book for a child who is learning to read and wanting to learn to count. This book focuses on teaching counting rather than putting the reader’s focus on a twisting, or complex plot.

[Margaret Chind · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually got this one on accident as our library just listed it asMiss Spider's Tea Party and not "The Counting Book" which is an abridged version of the story. Recommended for Memoria Press First Grade, but after reading through the board book I think I might have to buy both the real book and the board book. The illustrations are very bright and there seems to be a good underlying message about being nice...

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures seem a bit lush so that I think it may work well for older kids interested in identifying and counting the bugs in the various pictures. The text is brief with a bit of fun and irregular rhyme which is nicely age-appropriate although the lesson of being nice and making friends may be a bit overbearing. Digital illustration usually annoys me but this one isn't so bad despite the rounded, plasticy shapes.

[Fostergrants · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book so much, i look forward to little kids coming over so i have an excuse to read it out loud. the images are bright and colorful and the story has a nice rhythm to it. besides counting, the story teaches about judging people based on appearances. i have never had a child not want to read it twice during one sitting.

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a perfect book to work with my neice and nephew on their counting. They loved the animals, and all the beautifully silly artwork. It was a counting book based off of Miss Spider, as she goes through a Tea Party.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cute book with a nice rhyme. Miss Spider has a tea party, but no bugs want to attend until the end. Try to find the butterflies in the flowers!

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and vibrant counting book.

[Eastofoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really cute and colourful counting book for the preschool crowd that also teaches that you shouldn't be afraid of what you don't know.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice board book but not a necessity in a school library.

[Ashley Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a part of my Kindergarden lesson. The students loved this book. I asked them what number came next and I also asked about emotions.

[Amelia Halgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is our kids' favorite counting book. Charming rhymes and story. Contains the theme of wanting to be accepted for actions rather than appearance.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my daughter's favorite book when she was a baby. It is a delightful book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sweet way to teach a lesson.

[Jude Gravois]

Jude likes Miss Spider.

[Haley Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really took me back to reading the non counting version when I was little. I'm terribly afraid of spiders but the illustrations in this book are charming and not frightening at all. They are colorful and very different from most of yesterday children's books we have. I'm especially fond of the size and shape of the book as it is very easy to hold and some board books are just too big for me to easily hold with one hand during reading time or so small I end up covering illustration.

My toddler absolutely loves this book. We have to hide it when we've read it fifty or a hundred times just so we get to introduce her to other books!

I will be excited to continue with this story more as she's older.