Dolores Keaveney is an author and artist from Mullingar, in the Irish Midlands. She has written some amazing children’s picture books and I can honestly say the illustrations are the most amazing ones I have come across. The sense of colour and detail are impossible to recreate here and I would be 100% comfortable with recommending these books to anyone who has a young relative or friend with young children. These titles will be firm favourites for years to come!
This is Dolores’ latest release, The Scary Spider
Some people never grow out of their fear of spiders. I am not a huge fan and give them a wide berth when encountered. However, maybe if I had read a book like this as a young child, I wouldn’t be so scared of them now. The story tells of how a spider is spotted, watched and becomes an object of fascination. The spider is trying to trap a fly and the artwork of the web is just stunning. Food is placed out to tempt the spider and again the pictures are miniature works of art. The actual spider is drawn very true to life, rather than the norm in children’s books of making all creatures doe eyed and unrealistic, and I think this is an ideal way to introduce younger kids to the world of nature. I am an adult though, so thought the best thing was to let the kids have a say….
I brought the book up to Miss Reid’s class of 6/7 year olds in Collon National School and asked for their opinions. Out of the mouth of babes :
“I like the part when the spider got the food!” – Emma
“The fly flying away was cool!” – Isabella
“The fly got trapped! This was favourite bit” – Alice
” The pumpkin pictures are pretty!” – Abbie
” The spider is like a spiderman spider!!” – Rory
” I like the designs on the spider’s back” – Danny
“The fly is creepy and he has red eyes” – Danny
“I like the tattoos on the fly’s wings!!” – Blake
“The silver web is shining” – Callum
“The food pictures are delicious, they’re making me hungry!” – Amira
Seems I’m not the only one who loves the artwork!
Dolores has lots of other beautiful titles for children, which I aim to review over the next few weeks and all are available for purchase on her website : http://www.doloreskeaveney.com/ which posts worldwide!
All books will be available from Amazon very shortly but in the meantime, order from author’s website.