Read The Spider’s Lair free in the Little Reads app.
Guy Bass's The Spider's Lair is a spooky, silly adventure for 8 year olds about a small stitched-together creation who sets out to rescue his fiercest friend.
Stitch Head lives in Castle Grotteskew, where a mad professor makes monsters. He's small, grey and covered in stitches, and these days he spends his time mixing potions that cure the other creations of being monstrous (Lunacy Lotion, Savagery Salve and so on). His best friend is the Creature, who has three arms, a tail and a habit of SHOUTING every other WORD.
Then there's Arabella Guff. She's the only human who isn't scared of the castle, she kicks first and shouts later, and she has a pet monkey-bat called Pox. Arabella's nan has died, so she's being sent to an orphanage. Stitch Head offers her a home at the castle instead. But before she can move in, she's snatched in the night.
So Stitch Head sets off into the big wide world, which terrifies him. He takes Ivo, a tiny, cheerful creation with one metal arm who thinks snow is a miracle and can't bear spiders. Ivo has to go undercover as a doll. In a frilly blue dress and bonnet. Poor Ivo!
The orphanage they find is very strange. It's warm and beautiful, there are feasts three times a day and the lady in charge never stops singing. The children can do whatever they like, and what they like is sitting perfectly still in silence. Doesn't that sound creepy?
It's so funny to read. Arabella's insults are a joy ("Shove it up yer nostrils!") and poor Stitch Head keeps having to explain that burning the castle down was an accident. He's clearly had adventures before this one, but you pick everything up quickly.
A heads-up, though. It's properly spooky in places. The prologue has an old man carrying a dead body up to the castle so the professor can bring it back to life. Arabella's nan's death is told bluntly (and rather comically). Then there's the giant spider of the title, a fight in its lair and a jab in the eye. Anyone who's scared of spiders might want to give this one a miss!
If they fancy more of Guy Bass's kind-hearted monsters, The Unimaginary Friend is about a lonely boy whose imaginary friend turns up for real.
A library hand-picked by an English teacher, delivered through a calm, ad-free app. If your child already loves reading, we keep up.
No trial. No payment. Just download.
