Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2015 i Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids

Dear Spider, I love the whole magazine. I really want to make the Dessert Soup (February 2015). Please let Rainbow Jewel be in one of your comics. Claire Smith, age 6 Auburn, Massachusetts Dear Spider, Do you know how all those kids are always asking you to adopt their animal drawings? Well, I’m sure they’re sad when they read the next issue and their animal isn’t there. I just wanted to suggest that you have an issue called Adoption Issue. You would fit as many animal drawings from kids as possible. It would give everyone something to look forward to. Anita, age 8 Opelika, Alabama We love the animals you all send in. That’s why we have a surprise for you and Thistle. Find it on page 35 !…

“AUNT PEARL!” DANDELION Pinkley called, bursting into the Pinkley family’s library along with her brother Doodlebug. “Can we use Charles as our Yule pig?” Aunt Pearl was drowsing before a cozy fire in the book-lined room, and Charles, her beloved bearded pig, was acting as her footstool. Pearl and her pet had just flown in from their home on the island of Borneo. “We rigged up a chariot and everything!” Doodlebug announced. “And we want Charles to pull it around!” Dandelion said. At the mention of “chariot” Aunt Pearl’s eyes fluttered open. Charles grumbled deep in his pig throat, shifting under the weight of Pearl’s big clodhoppers. “Just like you said they do in Scandinavia on the winter solstice!” Dandelion added. On the way to visit, Charles and Aunt Pearl…

DIRECTOR: It all started when my fourth grade teacher, Ms. Cruz, wrote a holiday musical for our class. MS. CRUZ: (passionately) Cosgrove Fairy Wonderland. It’s the story of a brave fairy who risks everything to save an abandoned ice kingdom. DIRECTOR: Ms. Cruz asked me to be the director. Here’s what she said: MS. CRUZ: You would be SUCH a fabulous director! DIRECTOR: Here’s what she meant: MS. CRUZ: (covers her ears) You are SO tone deaf! Please don’t sing. My ears can’t take it. DIRECTOR: (shrugs) Fine by me. (dreamily looks into the distance) I’ll be the best director Cosgrove Elementary has ever seen. Every kid will want to be my friend! (turns to audience) But I learned that directing a play is a great way…

THE FIRST TIME I saw a turkey vulture, it had its head inside a dead raccoon and was feasting on its decaying flesh. I know staring is rude, but I couldn’t stop watching. Not only was this my first turkey vulture—it was a turkey vulture at work. Work? Turkey vultures have jobs? In a way, yes. They eat dead animals—anything from small road kill to dead cows—that could infect other birds, cats, dogs, or wild animals and spread disease. You could call them nature’s cleanup crew. They also have a great sense of smell, which is rare for a bird. Turkey vultures can pick out a whiff of rotting road kill while soaring overhead and zero in on it with pinpoint precision. Turkey vultures rarely kill. And they have an…

This Month for Spider’s Corner: Send us your best joke. Here are the only rules: 1. Your entry must be signed by a parent or legal guardian, authorizing its publication in print and/or online and saying it’s your own idea. 2. Be sure to include your complete name, age, and address. 3. Your entry must arrive by November 25, 2015. We will publish our favorites in the March 2016 issue of Spider. Email your joke to spider@cricketmedia.com, or mail it to Spider’s Corner, P.O.Box 300, Peru, IL 61354. Pirate Story Isabella Gartner, age 9 Monte Rio, California The Pirate Ship in the Backyard When I awoke this morning I heard people shouting, “Land ho!” My brother and I scrambled out of bed. We looked out the bedroom window. Ten feet…