"Montgomery is equal parts poet and scientist."Yellow blood, silk of steel, skeletons on the outside! These amazing attributes creatures 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 500 live tarantulas sit in towers of stacked shoeboxes 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.
Together, Sam Marshall, author Sy Montgomery, and photographer Nic Bishop surprise and delight readers not only with the secrets of these giant spiders, but also with the fascinating discoveries about the nature of science itself. This is science at its best: friends and colleagues working in the field and in the lab, through experimentation and observation, all to understand the way spiders live. And what can learn from these beautiful, mysterious animals? Turn the page to find out".
THE TARANTULA SCIENTIST HAS BEEN HONORED BY THESE AWARDS:- 2005 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
- 2004 School Library Journal, Best Books of the Year
- 2005 Texas Bluebonnet Award
- 2004 John Burroughs Honor List of Nature Books for Children
- 2005 National Science Teachers Association and Children's Book Council
Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children. The book received the further
distinction of being noted as a "Selector's Choice" among these outstanding
works for children. - 2005 Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts
- 2005 Voice of Youth Advocates Nonfiction Honor List
- Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice List, a compilation of what reviewers
consider the top books of the year.
REVIEWS:
"Sam Marshall loved animals, but disliked school—until a college research project on tarantulas made him realize that science is a process, not a set of answers. Montgomery and Bishop team up for another stellar excursion into the world of working scientists. They accompany Marshall on a research trip to the rainforests of French Guiana, and document his enthusiasm for large, hairy "spider dinosaurs" in crisp, detailed photographs and clear, lively prose.
"Returning with him to his Hiram College lab, filled with spiders, student researchers, and questions, they show what kind of questions scientists ask about spiders, and how they learn the answers. Montgomery has a gift for scene-setting, describing Marshall's activities in just enough detail. She deftly weaves clear explanations and comparisons into the main text ("...their 'skin' is called an exoskeleton, because exo—like exit—means 'outside'") 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."
—Starred Review, Kirkus
"The pairing that produced The Snake Scientist has returned with another dramatic title that demonstrates the wonders of hands-on science by following a working researcher. This time the featured scientist is arachnologist Sam Marshall, who studies spiders in the jungle of French Guiana as well as in his lab back at his Ohio college, and the featured subject is spiders, especially tarantulas. Readers will bet a fresh view on the possibilities of science even at junior levels of research (Sam's undergraduates are often discoverers of new traits of behaviors in spiders) and also the differences that can exist between field science and classroom science".
"...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.'"
—Starred Review, The Bulletin
"They're creepy, they're crawly and they're really, really cool. In fact, by the time you finish reading The Tarantula Scientist, Sy Montgomery's latest book for young readers, the large, fuzzy arachnids don't seem creepy at all.
"'To see this spider, and see how it lives—there's nothing quite like it,' Sam Marshall says in the book. "It's a jewel in a beautiful setting, down here in this forest.'
"...The Tarantula Scientist offers an up-close look at creatures most of us known little about, and convinces us to care about them. The book is beautiful, and the tarantulas who creep around each page make it fun. It's worth paging through it for Nic Bishop's remarkable photos alone, but you won't want to miss Montgomery's enthusiastic text.
The Tarantula Scientist is easy to follow for young people (without being condescending) and best of all it has a great story to tell—one that's sure to draw you in."
—Jane Eklund, The Monadnock Ledger