This week, I’m featuring a story about an unusual arachnid named Selma.
Can you tell she’s unusual from the cover? Is it the beret? Maybe. But there’s so much more to Selma than that jaunty cap! Maybe it’s her geometry?
The subtitle on the title page offers another clue, along with more unusual spinning.
Those eyes, eyes like the ones Jon Klassen is most famous for, hold personality and something else. Perhaps a challenge to the reader. Are you listening? Watching? Are you picking up what I’m laying down?
The beginning shows the status quo. Thousands of Selma’s relatives spin perfectly woven webs, all designed to catch flies…and it looks like Selma is right there with them, doing the same thing….
Page turn. But we couldn’t be more wrong.
Spider relatives raise their skeptical eyebrows. (What? Spiders don’t have eyebrows? Okay, well, they googly-eye her.) They say Selma is “doing it wrong.” But Selma isn’t interested in catching flies. She “wants to spin spider webs that capture the Splendor of the Universe.” Notice the very specific capitalization. Capturing the Splendor of the Universe is a tall order!
Selma dreams big. She has a big heart in search of awe. Flies are not the pièce de résistance for this unusual spider. On subsequent spreads Selma spins a “web that looked like rain…a web of loveliness and mystery.”
Then she spins a web to capture the beauty of the night sky. Spider relatives remain skeptical. So Selma dreams up an even grander idea, to spin a web as close to the sky as possible. To do this, she must travel farther than she ever has, braving crowds (including a beret-wearing dog) and climbing a skyscraper. She climbs. And climbs. And climbs.
When she gets tired, she rests on a ledge and ponders giving up. Just as she decides to spin her way down, the voice of ancient wisdom (in this case, a very old spider) intones “Not every spider is cut out for high-altitude spinning.”
And then adds another nugget of wisdom: ” Only the spider who risks spinning too far finds out how far she can spin.” Clearly, Selma is at a crossroads. The decision is hers alone.
What will she do?……….Well, it’s no surprise that spunky, little Selma makes it to the top of the skyscraper, but what comes after is a lovely, yet inevitable, twist. And I think it may make kids’ imaginations soar. To infinity and beyond, Selma!
An aside: I love that there’s also a little message to decode on the billboard on top of a skyscraper on one of the spreads.
Activities:
Spin your own traditional or avant-garde spiderweb, using these Crafting Chicks website instructions as a guide or another wonderful 3-D option from FunAtHomeWithKids.
Pair this book with The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne by Laura Alary, illus. by Yas Imamura, and The Fire of Stars by Kirsten Larson, illus. by Katherine Roy. How does Selma embody the spirit of Cecilia Payne? How do these two books about the same woman show two different paths in telling the story of the same astronomer’s life? Can there more than one path to achieve your goals?
For older kids, if you could choose any career you wanted, what would it be? What are the steps it might take to get there? Do you talk with people who have similar dreams? Do you find out who may already be doing that and try to follow the path they took? If no one else has taken this path before, how do you figure out the steps that can take you in the right direction?
Title: Selma: The Story of a Stellar Spider
Author/Illustrator: Tini Malina
Translator: Tammi Reichel
Publisher: NorthSouth, 2026
Themes: following your dream, individuality, self-confidence
Ages: Preschool through elementary school
For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.
I am sooo glad you shared this because I have been querying a ms that is really similar in tone and storyline and now I think I need to pull it and read this book first to make sure it’s not too similar. My first draft was from around 2015 though, possibly way before this author started theirs.
Oh, Teresa, I’m so sorry. This happens more often than we’d like to think to artists. I hope yours is different enough, or that you can tweak it to be more different so you don’t have to scrap it. An author I met awhile ago is working on a book about a woman who I thought no one else would write about. A woman I’d been researching. So I sent that idea to the scrap heap. At least I hadn’t started writing the story, and I decided I wasn’t passionate enough about the story, anyway, to come at her life from a different angle. I do hope you can salvage your story, if it’s something you decide you want to do.
This is a perfect picture book! I’m ordering it right now. And I don’t think I’ll forget the authors name because it rhymes – Tina Malina! Perfect!
Yay! The funny thing is I keep mistyping her name. I’m sure she gets that a lot. Enjoy!
Well, maybe her name doesn’t rhyme, but I still won’t forget it – Tini Malina. 🙂
WOW! You’ve enticed me with another gem! Looking forward to perusing the pages of this book!
There are days when I despair at not being able to read all of the wonderful books being published. But I keep trying! I hope this one ends up on your TBR pile…or at least in your library’s collection to be enjoyed by lots of kids and their caregivers. Cheers!
Great review Jilanne. And you can order it at Bookshop.com at 15% off using code NORTHSOUTH. They’re my publisher as well.
Thank you, Donna!And thanks for that important piece of ordering info!! (and just the thought of your dragon book makes me smile 😀)
Wonderful review. It looks like a really sweet book. I was able to order a copy at my local library. Can’t wait to read it. Thanks for the post.
Fantastic! I’m so glad they’ll have it in circulation. I hope you enjoy it!
Jilanne, thank you for such a wonderful feature of “Selma”! I am so happy to see this little spider spin her way so far into readers’ hearts.
Selma was a pleasure to read, and I think she may inspire kids to follow their hearts!