Disclaimer: Realistic spiders are drawn in the book The Spider Lady: Nan Songer and Her Arachnid World War II Army by Penny Parker Klostermann and Anne Lambelet. It is due early May 2025, and was read via an online reader copy.
OMG! Now, if you do not like spiders, you probably should not read this book. However, I wish you would. Yes, there are spiders (a lot of spiders) but the art of Lambelet makes them so darn cute! I mean, I’d cuddle with them…. Well maybe not the Black Widow, but that little ol’ spider has a really big silk spin. Or actually, has the right sized silk spin. We follow Nan Songer from a young girl to the woman who would help the Allies in World War II to make silk crosshairs for guns and other equipment needed for the soldiers. 
This book shows that the littlest of the littlest things can have a great impact. The only reason I am not saying this is a pure 5 is because we have had other WWII stories that show the “little guy” (or spider in this case) winning the war for the Allies. It has organic colors, busy images that are to the point of distraction for the details. But in a good way! There is just so much going on! There is the main story, which is a bit on the longer side than a usual picture book, but also added are snippets of facts about the animals on the side. The illustrations might not tell the whole story, but they do support the story and really capture the feeling, the moment and what is happening.
Both the story and illustrations get the blood pumping. Maybe it’s a fear of spiders, or maybe just because it is so darn amazing what this self-educated person did! Maybe things hit me in the right way as I appreciate spiders and I am curious about them, maybe things hit me just because it is a positive story (despite the war aspect), or perhaps it hit me the right way because it is just so darn amazing. (Did I already say that?)
