Mice & Spiders & Webs...Oh My!

By: Sherrill S. Cannon
Illustrated by: Kalpart
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing
Publication Date: March 2015 
ISBN: 978-1631359491
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: May 2015

Oh my! What will poor Rosemary do? Before leaving school on Friday, her teacher, Ms. Eddy, told the children that come Monday, there would be mice in the classroom! Eeek! Rosemary does NOT like mice. Nope, nada, not one little, tiny bit. The young student tells her mother that she will not be going to school Monday morning.

Rosemary’s mother is quite confused at her daughter’s declaration. She knows Rosemary loves school and has lots of friends there too. What could the problem be? When Rosemary explains the imminent arrival of several mice, her mother assures her that all will be okay and surely a few little creatures can’t keep the girl from school. After all, she reasons, the mice will be in a cage. That may be so, replies Rosemary, but Ms. Eddy also said there’d be spiders…and webs! Double-eek!!!

“I know they’re just bugs, and perhaps they won’t bite,
But something about them just gives me a fright.
They move much too quickly, they scurry and crawl,
I know I should like them – I can’t, though I try.
If this one has legs that are hairy, I’ll cry!”

With the addition of spiders and webs, even Rosemary’s mother is a bit apprehensive about Monday morning. Surely, the teacher wouldn’t let spiders run around the classroom. Time for Mom, Rosemary, and Ms. Eddy to have a chat!

Mice & Spiders & Webs...Oh My! tackles a really fun, and often ignored, topic – misunderstood words, how many words have more than one meaning, and the importance of listening to what the teacher is saying. You see, while Rosemary thought her teacher was talking about real mice and spiders, Ms. Eddy was using computer terms to introduce her students to popular technology. No spiders spinning webs in her classroom – nope, nada, not going to happen. Instead, Ms. Eddy was talking about the Internet, the mice we use to control our cursor, and email as well as other useful tools.

This is the second book of Ms. Cannon’s that I’ve reviewed, and the third that Feathered Quill has reviewed (the other two are Manner-Man and My Fingerpaint Masterpiece). Like the other books, Mice & Spiders & Webs...Oh My! is a super-fun book that will surely put a smile on the faces of both children and adults. The rhyme is perfect, setting a light-hearted but informational tone, and the drawings, again by Kalpart, are bright and well-matched to the story. The author has taken a very interesting topic, computer technology, and turned it into a fun learning experience. Children will get a giggle out of Rosemary’s confusion of various terms while also learning what some of those terms actually mean. This book is a winner any way you look at it!

Quill says: Another winner from author Sherrill S. Cannon and a great way to introduce youngsters to computer technology.

For more information on Mice & Spiders & Webs...Oh My!, pleaes visit the author's website at: sbpra.com/sherrillscannon