The farm animals try to divert a busy little spider from spinning her web, but she persists and produces a thing of both beauty and usefulness. The pictures may be felt as well as seen.

A young spider named Walter tries to weave a very sturdy web. Can you pick out the different shapes that are formed while he is working?

Everyone knows the simple rhyme The Itsy Bitsy Spider: the climb up the waterspout, the washout, the return of the sun, and the determined climb back up the spout--again. Generations of children have recited the beloved verse and delighted in mastering its accompanying twisty finger play. But why did Itsy Bitsy make that famous journey? What sent the tiny spider on his upward trek? What happened along the way--and where is Itsy now? It all starts...

"In The Spider Silk Scientists, readers enter Randy Lewis' lab where they come face to face with golden orb weaver spiders and genetically engineered goats, whose milk contains the proteins to spin spider silk--and to weave a nearly indestructible fiber. Learn how this amazing material might someday be used to repair or replace human ligaments and bones, improve body armor, strenghten parachute rope, and even tether an airplane to an aircraft carrier!...

Text and photographs describe how a variety of spiders produce and use it for making webs, trapping insects for food, and for other purposes.