Red Spider Hero - Hardcover

Named to Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2015 " ...this tale won't burn out, nor will Cucco's illustrations, with their M&M colors and their shared aesthetic with William Steig, Jules Feiffer, and Quentin Blake. Just so, a story that celebrates the dreams of even the smallest of us--the really, really smallest." -- STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews "John Miller's Red Spider Hero was written more than 50 years ago, but its appeal is timeless. Harry's desire to be something bigger, something grander than his very small self won't be lost on young readers."----Karin Snelson, Shelf Awareness "...[an] amiable story of the limits of youthful ambition. Giuliano Cucco's black lines and deep shades of watercolor make the illustrations a glowing affair in this collaboration by the creators of 2014's Winston & George."----Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal

On a small piece of sidewalk, there once lived a teeming colony of teeny tiny red spiders. These spiders were so tiny that when it rained they never got wet and when people stepped on them they never got squashed. Even so, they were all quite content living there on the same patch of sidewalk. All except one little spider, who decided that he'd had enough and that the big, wide world was far more suited to him than a teeny tiny strip of sidewalk. So he stamped his feet and hollered and said he would run away. Seeing the little red spider's frustration, his grandfather stepped forward to explore the situation with his grandson and together, in a wonderful shared moment of conversation and imagination, the little red spider succeeds in going off on the grandest adventure ever! The book's back matter includes a nonfiction section with photos about red ants. John Miller spent much of his grade school years with friends, tramping about the woods, lakes, rivers, and swamps of Morris County, New Jersey. These adventures inspired his children's books and articles about beavers, trout, starlings, and other animals for many magazines. John's first book, Winston & George, was published in March 2013. This is John's second book. Giuliano Cucco was an artist and illustrator. He and his wife were killed by a motor scooter driver in Rome in 2006. He is survived by his son Giovanni and two grandchildren. A master of style as well as a masterful colorist, Giuliano created illustrations that look as fresh today as the boldest contemporary work, even though they were created over fifty years ago.