Unit 4 Review - The Tarantula Scientist

Bibliographic Information

Montgomery, Sy. 2004. THE TARANTULA SCIENTIST. Photos by Nic Bishop. New York : Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-14799-3

Plot Summary

Yellow blood, silk of steel, skeletons on the outside! These amazing attributes don’t belong to comic book characters or alien life forms, but to Earth’s biggest and hairiest spiders: tarantulas.  Here you are invited to follow Sam Marshall, spider scientist extraordinaire (he’s never been bitten), as he explores the dense rainforest of French Guiana, knocking on the doors of tarantula burrows, trying to get a closer look at these incredible creatures. You’ll also visit the largest comparative spider laboratory in America--where close to five hundred live tarantulas sit in towers of stacked shoe boxes and plastic containers, waiting for their turn to dazzle and astound the scientists who study them. 

Spectacular, rare photographs reveal the tarantulas’ eight legs and eyes, up close, and document hours of tireless investigation, showing the way tarantulas hide, eat, and shed their skin. Sam says, “You have to watch them. You just have to wait a number of hours to have some secret revealed. You never know when you’ll see something so cool that it makes the other ninety-nine hours of watching nothing worth it.” Such research answers some questions and creates new ones, which, for Sam, is what makes studying tarantulas so exciting. 

Critical Analysis

Suffering from arachnophobia? Then this book, The Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery, will either terrify you or convert your fear into a state of profound awe for these amazing creatures. While for me personally, spiders are a little bit of fear inducing creatures, I could not deny the effort, detail, and appreciation for these creatures that was poured into this book. Opening the first pages, maps and detailed descriptions draw the reader into the story. This novel follows explorer and scientist Sam Marshall, including direct quotes and descriptions of his adventures in the rainforest of French Guiana. The photographs by Nic Bishop offer extremely close up shots of all the bugs described in the book, so the reader is able to see every hair on their fuzzy (not so) little bodies. While this book could technically be described as a picture book, I would say it is more appropriate for students 6th grade and above due to the length of the book and the vocabulary used throughout. This is an encouraging book for young scientists because it documents activities of science students in addition to Sam Marshall. Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop succeed in taking informational material and making it a quite personal tale of wonder and determination. Their passion carries you through the text and leaves you wanting to know more, a sign of a successful informational, nonfiction book. 

Awards Won & Review Excerpt(s)

*A 2005 Sibert Honor Book

*Kirkus Reviews, starred review: "Montgomery has a gift for scene-setting... She deftly weaves clear explanations and comparisons into the main text... Bishop's phenomenal photos show spiders mating, shedding their skin, even leaping through the air. It's enough to make Miss Muffet fall in love."

*School Library Journal, starred review: "...this is a vivid look at an enthusiastic scientist energetically and happily at work, both in the field and in the lab, questioning, examining, testing, and making connections. A treat, even for arachnophobes."

*The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review: "Bishop's photographs rise magnificently to the challenge of capturing earth-toned spiders amid earth-toned jungle surroundings, bringing the critters up-close and personal and offering a few of his trademark astonishing stop-action shots... This would liven up a science curriculum no end, and it might also convince young readers to go beyond the elemental pleasures of 'Ew, gross' to the more sophisticated appreciation of 'Wow, cool.'"

Connections

*Picture a Tarantula - an activity that builds observation skills. Students will listen to a description of a goliath birdeater tarantula and draw a picture from that description. This activity points out the importance of detail. It links science, reading/literacy, and art in a way that students love!

*Creature Search - an activity that combines science, writing and reading. Students will be given a topic from The Tarantula Scientist to research. They will then do a written and oral report. As an added bonus students will be learning about many fascinating plants and animals that live in the jungles and rainforests that are rapidly being destroyed.

*Classify, Classify, Classify - an activity that can be utilized in a variety of ways. Students will hear how living organisms are classified, and then they will look at the animals pictured in the book and decide how they should be classified. This is truly an adventure! Once students collect the data, they will organize the information in tables and graphs. Students can do this individually, or in groups. This activity links math, science and technology.