童玩繪本樂

             A Parenting magazine Best Book of the Year, 
           A National Parenting Publications Honor Book, 
                    A Parents' Choice Award-winner

Summary

Sincere Miss Spider would like to invite some guests for tea. Unfortunately, most of the bugs turned her down because of her voracious reputation although she kept showing her kindness to those guests without complaining. Finally, a timely rainstorm provided the perfect opportunity for Miss Spider to prove her strong intentions. A rain-soaked moth! She kindly cared for the moth by serving him tea and helping him fly away when he was dry. Good news travelled quickly. Many of the insects which turned her shunned upon the first invitation were happy to be at her party.

Analysis

Characters

1)  Types of Characters:

Protagonist (hero): Miss Spider

Antagonist (villain): The rain-soaked moth

Foil Character: Miss Spider’s fellow bugs 

2)  The way characters are portrayed:

Flat Character (stock, static characters or stereotypes): Miss Spider

Round characters (dynamic characters): The rain-soaked moth and other bugs


Setting

1)      Type of setting: Integral Setting

The setting is fully described in both time and place.

Narrative Point of View

External Omniscient Narrator (Multiple points of view; the narrator is "all-knowing") 

Plot 

1)  Type of plot structure:

A Progressive or Dramatic Plot: First establishes the setting (Miss Spider asks the bugs for tea) and conflict (Miss Spider is repeatedly rejected by the bugs she invites, who fear her.), then follows the rising action (No one dares consider attending her party.) through to a climax (Rain-soaked moth was too swollen with rain for him to fly), and concludes with a denouement (Events unfold, the bugs see how gracious a spider she really is.).

  





Conflict

1)  Types of conflicts:

The Protagonist against Another

        The bugs worry to be the menu of the party instead of being the guests. 

The Protagonist against Nature

Miss Spider is being herbivore (loves to eat flowers and plants) herself

The Protagonist against Self

Miss Spider was disappointed and confused about the rejection from others, but she still treats everyone with her love.

The Protagonist against Society

No one wants to be in Miss Spider’s sociable life.

Theme

The thematic issue in “Miss Spider’s Tea Party” is about prejudice, tolerance, and discrimination. Through this story, we may find out that the fear of unknown, judgment, tolerance, and going beyond tolerance. Everyone is different and those differences make each of them special.

Tone 

Diction

Through David Kirk’s rhyming text and high frequency words, the readers are able to predict the next related texts which encourage object-naming and numbers. For example: "Her friends were glad to watch her feast / Upon the floral centerpiece. / It was a great relief to see / She ate just flowers and drank just tea." Also, the readers will use context cues, and phonetics to read and understand the words they are not familiar with. 

Image

First, the drawings of the book are excellent with bright contrasting colors, which easily attract the interest of most readers. Second, counting is also practiced by each of Miss Spider’s rejections from an increasing number of insects. Last, the readers will utilize combinations of pictures, symbols, letters, and words to convey meaning of the contexts.

Details

In the real nature, the diet of spiders is usually meat-based. On the contrary, Miss Spider in this story book represents as the opposite of actual natural characteristic of spiders – eat only plants and flowers. This idea leads the younger readers treat spiders in real life as interesting living creatures which do not need to be feared. (except the poisonous ones in the forests.)

Language

This book is educational for young children due to the simple and rhyming statements that the author makes.

Reflection

Although I've read this book in Chinese version several times before, this time, I still am enthusiastic about reading this book which never makes me tired of repeating again. The story is touching, the language is beautiful, the illustrations are amazing, and  is a simple story about prejudice.

Miss Spider’s Tea party depicts about the discrimination that most people have in mind about the spiders. “Eeek—a spider!” we say. However, there are exceptions — in David Kirk’s book Miss Spider’s Tea Party, Miss Spider gives us a significant example that we all should treat others without prejudice. Even a spider can be heartwarming and its kindness goes a long, long way.

The illustration on the number of the insects and bugs truly impresses me. While reading the story at the first time, I wasn’t careful enough to look at those details. Luckily, I figured that out at the second time and I found out that this book can be a great material for children to recognize the intention that the author was trying to present by combining the names of insects and vivid illustration while the younger readers might have trouble understanding the words. If you purchase this book, I guarantee that you won't be sorry.