The Spider Lady
$18.99
The Spider Lady:
By Penny Klostermann
Illustrated by Anne Lambelet
Pre-order now!
The on-sale date for this new book by Abilene’s own Penny Klostermann is May 6, but we are taking pre-orders now! Order your copy and we’ll have your book ready for you on Tuesday, May 6. Penny will be signing books that afternoon at Texas Star, so we can get your book signed for you.
Perfect for kids who are fascinated by insects and American history, this is the story of Nan Songer, a little-known hero of World War II, who collected and bred spiders in her home and found new ways to use their silk to help the United States win the war.
Venomous spiders, delicate silk, and science experiments filled Nan Songer’s days and nights—her home in California overflowed with many-legged critters. With inspiration from a friend, Nan began to study how spider silk could be harvested. The finely woven material spiders used to create webs was much stronger than it looked, and Nan was eager to unlock its potential and hopefully help her country at the same time.
At the height of WWII, she studied different spiders before landing on the poisonous black widow as the perfect spider to experiment with. Their strong silk could be used for crosshairs on rifles, which Nan used to fill massive orders for the US military. Despite the danger posed by black widows, Nan wasn’t deterred—she wanted to play her part. Using a device she built for extracting silk, Nan humanely used it on the deadly spiders to get both extra fine and super heavy silk.
Hardcover, 48 pages, colorful illustrations. Recommended for Ages 7-10, grades 2-5.
