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Book Description
Wolf Spiders - Mothers on Guard by Sandra Markle has neat wolf spider fact on every page, and awesome descriptions of each body part. I learned about malpighians and stercorals within 5 minutes of reading. Photos are high quality with good references.
Bugs That Kill (Bug Alert) by Gary Rahan - Good pop-out short fact blurbs on body parts and functions of various bugs. Nice photos and great illustrations. They have reoccurring illustration of the of the life cycle of each bug. They have sections on centipedes, spiders, scorpions, wasps, ants, beetles, and praying mantids. Good glossary.
Black Widows (Deadly Biters) by Sandra Markle - This book has pronunciations (an-RACK-nidz) which are very nice and helpful. There are black widow facts on nearly every page, with good body diagrams. Discusses the small size of the males, termed dimorphism. Good glossary.
Big Bugs by Catherine Ipcizade - Very high quality photos of a tarantula, and a scary photo a giant water bug capturing a frog. Describes a spider enemy, the tarantula hawk wasp. This simple reader is geared towards a younger crowd.
Web Weavers and Other Spiders by Bobbie Kalman (1996) has good description of true spiders and mygalomorphs, with nice photos. Not so good - they use the term poison when referring to a spider's venom. It's a common mistake in spiders books. Does have a good section on an ant mimicing spider, and the bola, a bird dropping mimic. It's an older book, so easy to find a used one at a low price.
Spiders (Insects and Spiders) by Shane McEvey (2001). I have reviewed another book in the series, Bugs, and was impressed by it. I think this book will be similar. Bugs had good Factoids disguised as leaves. Anatomy was described using large photos, very good for kids. I learned about spiracles, which are breathing holes and how bugs communicate, with antennae, singing, smells, and other sounds. Bugs had good life cycle info, a good glossary, and a bug quiz. Nicely done.
Stronger Than Steel: Spider Silk DNA and the Quest for Better Bulletproof Vests, Sutures, and Parachute Rope by Bridget Heos (2013). This book has excellent Golden Orb photos, nice close macro shots, with excellent captions, and high quality publishing. Discusses the size diffferences in males and females. As the discussion moves into genes and DNA, they talk about transgenic goats, injected with spider silk genes, quite fascinating experiments. Silkworms are described, not worms, but caterpillars. They describe the painstaking process of pulling silk from spiders, discussing the different types of silk. The photography is excellent and this book is highly recommended.