Bobby loves spiders and is called "Spider Boy from Illinois" by a bully at his new school. At first Bobby's content with writing in his journal and caring for Thelma, his pet tarantula, but now he's stuck working on a school project with Lucky, another student. Bobby finds that Lucky's not bad for a girl, and things look even better when he sees a chance to get revenge on Chick Hall, the school bully. But Bobby's not ready for Chick's retaliation.

After moving to another state, seventh grader Bobby deals with the change by telling people at school made-up stories and then retreating into his world of pet spiders and books about spiders.

Humorous story about a boy's adjustment to new surroundings and kids in a new school. Packed with fascinating facts about spiders, the story is told through journal entries and scenes of events. Contains a spider bibliography.

 http://www.ralphfletcher.com/books.html - Ralph Fletcher

http://www.onemotion.com/flash/spider/ - 3D Spider

http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-do-spiders-spin-webs/ - Wonderopolis - Why do Spiders spin webs?

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson119/vivarium.pdf- Create a Vivarium for a Spider

http://www.teachersfirst.com/getsource.cfm?id=635 - Tarantulas - Raising a Tarantula

http://www.teachersfirst.com/getsource.cfm?id=4605 - Smithsonian's World of Spiders

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/tarantula.html - National Geographic - Tarantulas

http://www.pbs.org/safarchive/3_ask/archive/qna/3295_west.html - PBS ASK THE SCIENTIST - Tarantulas

http://www.brainpop.com/science/diversityoflife/spiders/preview.weml - Brain Pop - Spiders

http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyth/index.html - Spider Myths

http://spiders.ucr.edu/ - Spider Research & Myths

http://spiders.ucr.edu/ - Housing Spiders in the Classroom

http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/buggin/bugoff/bugoff.html - The Great Bug Off Game - Animal Planet

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/insects/insectintro.htm - Science 4 Kids

http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/spiders/activities.htm - Spider Activities

http://www.quia.com/jg/65608.html - QUIA Spider Quiz