"When the warm winds blow" in spring, a host of tiny garden spiderlings clamber out of the silken sac that protected them over the winter, and one—eluding hungry predators that include her own brothers and sisters—spins a long strand that carries her away on the breeze. After a long season in her new home she spins her own egg sac, fills it and then dies "as mother spiders do every year." Wadsworth retraces this life cycle in simple, non-anthropomorphic language, and Wynne's pale, naturalistic illustrations are just as restrained and matter-of-fact. Her delicate watercolor, gouache, ink and colored-pencil images include just enough detail to focus readers' attention on what matters, from Spider's many excapes from predators to her own successful trapping of prey. Along with being good preparatory material for a shared reading of Charlotte's Web (obviously intentional, as this book is dedicated to E.B. White), this may draw budding naturalists looking for a less melodramatic alternative to Sandra Markle's Sneaky, Spinning Baby Spiders

A mother spider lays her eggs and wraps them "round and round with her strong silk thread." Detailed illustrations and bold language make this tale of birth and death, autumn and spring, fresh, exciting, sensational as life. A great update for elementary school libraries and classrooms.

In the fall, a garden spider lays her many eggs and encases them in a sac of silk. In the spring, the young spiders emerge. The narrative follows a particular spiderling as she searches for food, avoids predators, and spins a silk thread that catches an air current, carrying her to a new locale, where she spins a web, eats her prey, creates her own egg sac, and dies. In the spring, the cycle begins again. Simply told with wellchosen words and phrases, the story reads aloud well. An appended page provides further information about the type of spider portrayed. Wynne uses watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil to add hue and shading to the precise ink drawings that define the spiders and their surrounding. The illustrations vary in tone from pastoral landscapes that set the scene to close-ups of dramatic escapes from predators that look monstrously large from the spider’s point of view. A well-crafted nonfiction picture book.

We've been staying at my folk's house for a week now. It's the same home I grew up in as a child and I am reminiscing about all the fun times I had playing in the wonderful big backyard, rescuing bees from the pool, feeding the anthills sugarcubes and admiring spider webs glistening with dew in the early morning.

Author Ginger Wadsworth's latest book release Up, Up, and Away just arrived in my mother's mailbox and my son (who loves spiders)immediately snatched it from my hands and ran to the sofa to read it for us. I knew he would love this one.....especially the part where the spider "bites her prey with powerful jaws and sucks up juicy beetle guts or sips fly stew." EEEEeeewwwww!!!! ;) Ginger Wadsworth knows just how to hold a little one's attention.

The story teaches us garden spider facts
while following a little spider who searches for a home of her own. While there are a few moments that may be a little tough for a small child to grasp, (when "a brother crunches a sister for lunch" or when the mother spider "ties the egg sac tight, then dies")they are true to life and nature. These are important moments to take advantage of allowing us as parents and teachers to discuss the natural cycle of death and new life.

Patricia J. Wynne's illustrations are beautiful, bold and colorful. She depicts the Zipper Spider aka the Banana Spider of the South. We had lots of these in our garden in Virginia. I haven't come across any in So. Cal yet. They have bright yellow and black markings on their abdomens and spin silky webs with thick white zig-zags down the center.

This book describes the life cycle of the black-and-yellow Argiope aurantia (a type of garden spider). After a mother lays her eggs, the spiderlings hatch inside the egg sac and wait for spring to chew a hole and emerge into the sunlight. Seeking a permanent home, one young femaile "spins out silken thread into the breeze" and floats upward, ballooning gracefully on air currents, and eventually finds a safe haven where she matures, meets a mate (there is no mention of details), and lays her own eggs, beginning the cycle anew. The clear, simple text is perfectly accompanied by delicate, bright-hued watercolors. Kids who want more may enjoy the brilliant photos in Nic Bishop's Spiders (Scholastic, 2007), even if they are not ready for the more in-depth text. Wadsworth and Wynne have created a sturdy framework for introducing their subject's architecturally elegant orb web.

This book covers a year in the life of a female garden spider, from the moment she leaves the sac as a spiderling until her own life ends and her very own spiderlings leave their sac. We learn right away how difficult and dangerous life can be for new spiders. From the struggle to be free of the sac, to trying to avoid being the lunch of a lizard, a bluebird or one of her own brothers or sisters, this spiderling is tough and smart and ready for all of the adventures that this next year will bring.
Up, up and away, she is finally able to float away on her silky zip line with the help of a breeze. She lands atop a sturdy fence post and decides that this is indeed the perfect place to call home. She spends her spring and summer building beautiful webs and growing big and strong from all of the insects that she lunches on. In the fall, spider mates and as winter draws near, she lays her eggs one by one. She wraps her eggs safe and snug inside a silken sac. Of course, as all spider mommies do, our friend Spider dies after this. But, reminiscent of Charlotte’s Web, Spider’s babies hatch in late winter and break free of the sac in early spring. Up, up and away, each spiderling begins their own new adventure.
The language of this book is lovely, but simple enough for early readers.

What happens after spiderlings grow and hatch? The survival of their species depends on their ability to go "up, up, and away." This real-life drama follows the life cycle of the baby Argiope aurantia garden spider from egg to adult.

The mother spider lays hundreds of eggs, binding her egg sac to a twig. As the hatchlings leave their nest, the young spiders face many dangers from both predators and their own siblings. Readers follow the journey of a single female spider. Spinning a web and navigating air currents along the way, she eventually finds a permanent home of her own.

Reading this book is an ideal way to introduce life cycles to primary students. Watercolor and pencil drawings dominate each page. Short segments of accurate text are great for reading aloud or for independent reading. There is supplementary section of natural history information for the teacher or mentor. This is an NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book for 2010.

In spring when warm winds blow, baby garden spiders hatch and emerge from their protective silken sacs. One small arachnid eludes predators, spins a long silk strand, blows over fields and meadows by air currents, and finally settles on a fence post. There she spins a web to catch passing food, stays until she mates, builds her own egg sac, and the cycle begins again. Endnotes provide information on garden spiders, their black and yellow markings, and the strange pattern of their webs, their habitats, and life span.

When baby spiders leave the egg sac, many of them float away on draglines to find a place to survive and thrive. Wadsworth and Wynne "chronicle the real-life drama of one spider" as she soars away.

All through the long winter, a tiny egg sac waits for the warm winds of spring. Eventually tiny spiders chew their way free and into the world. Follow one tiny spiderling as she escapes predators, including her hungry siblings, and sets herself free on a balloon flight adventure toward home.

Ginger Wadsworth’s simple poetic text flows freely off the tongue, making for a delightful and informative read-aloud for all ages. Patricia Wynne’s brightly colored illustrations in watercolor, gouache, ink and colored pencil add just the right amount of whimsy and detail to move the story forward and gives us a spider’s-eye-view of the world.

Up, Up, and Away is an exciting nonfiction journey into the life-cycle of the Zipper, or Writing, Spider (Argiope aurantia), which can be found in backyard gardens all over much of North America. Inspired by the ever-popular classic Charlotte’s Web, this one is sure to be a well-worn favorite!