Abandoned as a baby, Spider is raised by Tom Sparrow the shepherd and his wife who love him as their own. As Spider grows up, they realize that he's not like normal children and that life would not be easy for him.A beautifully written story for older readers by Dick King-Smith.First time appearance in A Puffin Book series of modern classics, with additional end material.Set before and during the Second World War, this story provides a rich and fascinating picture of rural life at that time.Dick King-Smith is one of the most successful writers for children - sales of his Puffin titles exceed 6 million.Dick King-Smith served in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, and afterwards spent twenty years as a farmer in Gloucestershire, the county of his birth. Many of his stories are inspired by his farming experiences. He wrote a great number of children's books, including
The Sheep-Pig (winner of the Guardian Award and filmed as
Babe),
Harry's Mad,
The Hodgeheg,
Martin's Mice,
The Invisible Dog, The Queen's Nose and
The Crowstarver.
At the British Book Awards in 1991 he was voted Children's Author of the Year. In 2009 he was made OBE for services to children's literature. Dick King-Smith died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight.A powerful and heartwarming story... one of those children's books much enjoyed by adultsThis book demonstrates everything that is good about writing for children. It is a book of love, trust and wonder thoroughly recommended to adults and young people alike
'This book demonstrates everything that is good about writing for children. It is a book of love, trust and wonder thoroughly recommended to adults and young people alike' - Carousel
Bestselling author Dick King-Smith creates a fascinating picture of rural life at the time of the Second World War.
Discovered as a foundling in a lambing pen, Spider Sparrow grows up surrounded by animals. From sheep and horses to wild otters and foxes, Spider loves them all, even the crows he must scare away from the newly sown wheat. Crowstarving is the ideal job for Spider - he is on his own, yet never alone for all around him are animals of one sort or another. Amazingly, every animal who meets Spider implicitly trusts the young boy. This magical rapport is Spider's unique gift, but nothing else in his tough life is so easy.