Instar is a cross spider who comes of web building age. Things don’t go well when Instar’s mother begins teaching her the art of spinning orb webs. Instar’s wonderful spiral creations are destroyed by a human, a bird, and the wind. She becomes incredibly frustrated and wishes for super strong webs.

She and a few friends contact a witch-like black widow, who gives them a potion that grants Instar’s wish. Trouble ensues and she must find a way to reverse her indestructible webs and face what she’s done.

Spider Might is a captivating children’s reading book by author David Grubb that delves into the adventures of a cross spider named Instar as she navigates the intricacies of web-making taught by her mother. Instar is a stubborn spider and believes she already knows how to make the best webs and is frustrated that they don’t last very long.

Gathering her friends they go on a quest to create indestructible webs seeking the help of old Exuvia, a black widow spider. However, the stronger webs cause so much havoc that Instar learns that her idea might not have been a very clever one after all.

Spider Might is a charming and adventurous book. The first thing I noticed when opening the book was how much text there was. Each double page has an illustration on one side and a full page of text on the other, something I wasn’t expecting. I had presumed the book was for younger readers. It does mean that the reader gets more story for their money, it also means that this is a book for older, more confident readers or a bedtime/class read.

The plot is intriguing and there are a few good messages and teaching moments within the pages. The illustrations are bright and colourful and make the text come alive. I wasn’t so keen on the names the author had chosen for the spiders as some children may find the names of them challenging to pronounce and remember, plus, in the glossary at the back the names given to the spiders actually meant something about them, it just felt very strange, although I did like ‘Officer Longlegs’.

The book has been written by I believe an American author and I am in the UK. Some of the wording within the book I hadn’t heard of before. I presume they teach more about spiders in school in the USA than they do in the UK as I’d never heard of a cross spider, orb-web, or body part names of a spider before so the book is educational as well as entertaining to read.

David Grubb, a retired Chief Warrant Officer (USCG), has been a creative writer nearly all his life, yet he never focused on the craft because of career and family. He changed that part of his life and is loving every minute of it. He also immensely enjoys spending more time with his family, who loves to travel among other things.