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"DiTerlizzi has spun a visual treat that young sophisticates and adults alike will enjoy."

—Publishers Weekly

The Spider & The Fly

“Will you walk into my parlor, said the Spider to the Fly…”is easily one of the most recognized and quoted first lines in all of English verse. But do you have any idea how the age-old tale of the Spider and the Fly ends? Join celebrated artist Tony DiTerlizzi as he – drawing inspiration from one of his loves, the classic Hollywood horror movies of the 1920s and 1930s – shines a cinematic spotlight on Mary Howitt’s warning, written to her own children about those who use sweet words to hide their not-so-sweet intentions.

Published: October 1, 2002
Ages: 4 to 8
Format: Hardcover, 40 pages
Author: Mary Howitt
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Purchase Info

Extras

Browse Art

Look inside the book with this gallery

Paper Puppets

Sweet creatures! Click here to download “Color-n-Make” paper puppets for MR SPIDER, MS FLY, CRICKET GHOST, and the BUTTERFLY GHOST (pdf format).

Holiday Ornaments

Be sure to click here to download SPIDER & FLY Holiday Ornaments (pdf format).

Desktop Wallpaper

Download this wallpaper featuring the Spider!

Videos

Interviews with Tony related to The Spider and the Fly

Author Essay

A Decade of Web-Weaving

Sketchbook

See early concept art and page layouts for this book.

Praise

“The setting is a dustily gothic attic in which DiTerlizzi’s “camera” never rests, zooming in, out, up, and down in a dazzling series of perspectives as a top-hatted and bespatted spider romances a naïve flapper fly.”
—Kirkus

"I love the beautiful, dramatic, black-and-white illustrations."
—Lane Smith, illustrator, The Stinky Cheese Man

"Rendered in black-and-white gouache and pencil, then reproduced in silver-and-black duotone, the paintings have a spooky quality perfectly suited to retelling this melancholy tale. ... This title is worth purchasing for its valuable artwork alone."
—School Library Journal

"Wonderful black-and-white illustrations."
—The New York Times

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Tony DiTerlizzi: Never abandon imagination.

Imagination is a world of possibility that exists within each of us. It is what makes us uniquely human. It is our creative fingerprint that touches and influences the world around us. Imagination is essential to art and science; to innovation and prosperity. It gives us hope, calls us to action and leads to change.

Whether it’s fairies, dragons, robots or aliens, all of my children’s book characters are siblings born of my imagination – an imagination strengthened through years of encouragement from family, teachers and friends. While so many others abandoned it during their transition from childhood to adulthood, I fiercely held onto mine, hoping for a day when I could share it to inspire the next generation of dreamers. Innovators. World changers.

Imagination empowers us to envision and create a reality of what could be. We must hold it dear, foster it and never abandon it.