Spider Lies – Reviews

Aussie Reviews

There are red herrings and power struggles, science facts and science speculation, school bullies and new friends. Jen Banyard keeps the story rollicking along and uses plenty of humour. The chapters are short and there are enough story threads to please any spider. Spider Lies’ viewpoints switch from chapter to chapter – sometimes within chapters – but it is easy to follow. The spider language is fascinating and inventive and may well inspire readers to invent words of their own. Recommended for mid-upper primary readers although it would also have interest for older, less confident readers.

Claire Saxby

D Magazine

It’s a wonderfully funny read that will have you looking at spiders in a whole new way.’

Fiction Focus

Spider Lies is a delightfully fresh and exciting story, combining monsters, space travel, NASA and the intrigues of being a kid who manages to finagle being home alone … With a diverse cast of characters, a dab of giggles, a touch of horror and healthy helping of tight, focused writing, Banyard has produced a splendid story that will appeal to a wide range of readers, particularly boys of a certain age. I wholeheartedly recommend this book for upper primary and lower secondary readers particularly, and, given that both my sixty-year-old father and myself enjoyed it, it’s a great quick read for adults too!

Tehani Wessley

Good Reading Magazine

It’s so well written, suspenseful and splattered with classroom humour. But beware, if you are arachnophobic it may give you nightmares. Rating: Highly Recommended.

Merle Morcom

Scan

Connor responds to a NASA request and suggests that some local moonbeam spiders be included in the next rocket launch, starting a chain of events that creates a secretive, space-age drama. Original and amusing, the story is based in an ordinary Australian suburb, and the tension grows as the reader realised that Connor, home alone, is being watched. Using email and satellite images the problem of the escapee space spider is happily resolved, but with a quirky twist that leaves the reader wondering about the future. An unusual voice in the narrative is the spider, whose poetic thoughts as he struggles to find his family take the reader down another path of understanding loneliness and the importance of family.

J. Foster

The West Australian

Spider Lies is full of great characters … [It’s] a fun-to-read thriller for young readers, full of humour and adventure.

Lynne Cahill