Nefertiti, the Spidernaut: The Jumping Spider Who Learned to Hunt in Space (Another Extraordinary Animal)

Darcy Pattison, a multi-award winning author, has written a remarkable true story that will appeal not only to her target audience, grades two through five, but to kids of all ages, as well as parents and teachers. A visual feast, this fascinating animal biography was beautifully illustrated in stunning colors. The main character of the story, Nefertiti, a Johnson jumping spider, journeyed to the International Space Station with Astronaut Sunita Williams, Captain, U.S. Navy, for a series of experiments in near zero gravity. Readers will be intrigued by Nefertiti's space habitat which included a water chamber, a chamber for her food source--fruit flies--and another chamber in which to hide. After several attempts, Nefertiti learned a new way to hunt fruit flies while living aboard the space station, and was able to revert to her pre-space hunting methods when she returned to Earth. Pattison's anticipation-building through the use of space travel and scientific experiments will have readers rooting for Nefertiti's success and safe return.

True story of a tiny jumping spider common in the USA, used for NASA research. Jumping spiders are very tiny creatures with excellent vision that hunt their prey; they do not use webs to trap them although they can make little dens for themselves of webbing. Because of their intelligence, this kind of spider went to space for tests and came back. Many kinds of colorful and entertaining jumping spiders are all over the USA, harmless, killing pesky insects, and even are often turned into pets. This is a great intro to them.

I purchased this book for an eight year old and it was well received by her and her parents. I took the book prior to wrapping and showed this to my retina care specialist who wrote it down for his daughter. Here is a creature, raised from a spiderling, with hundreds if not thousands of years of evolutionary programming to select and hunt food sent into zero gravity space. How Nefertiti adapts strategies to successfully survive is a great tale, and a true tale, for children to take in information and respect for the natural world.

I ordered nefertiti, the spidernaut . The book that shows up on my screen is about a sea monster. Seems like a cute book but I picked the spidernaut book for my spider loving daughter and this was a bit of a disappointing discoveryEdit: they changed it back to Nefertili so the right ebook is now in my possession, I have therefore, changed my rating from 1 start to 5 star. The book is adorable and a great way to introduce the world of science and what actually happens on the Space station in terms of experiments. My kids enjoyed the story of a spider who went to live on the space station and how it adapted to its new environment.

I ordered this title for my middle school Science teachers! The back story about designing the experiment and the International Space Station are valuable real world experiences and support student learning. The spider's ability to adapt in space and then reenter Earth's gravity is amazing. A wonderful nonfiction purchase.

A really fun book about science, spiders, astronauts and adapting to wherever you live.There was one mess up with the dates, though. It said Nefertiti left earth on July 21 and landed 6 Days later, which would be July 27. But then it went on to state that she caught her first fruit fly on July 23. A little confusing.Otherwise it was a really fun book to read with my first grader. He’s still not sure if this really could be a true story, though. A spider in space?! No way!I bought this for the kindle but I want a hard copy so I can donate it to his classroom. Great book!

Beautiful and true story..had me choked up in the end about a spider, and I have always been afraid of spiders! If it can teach young children to appreciate the smallest of all creatures great & small, it makes for an even more purposeful read (over and above it is a true bit of scientific history and a story well told!)Buying a copy for my children's school library..which I only do for special books like this one.

My class was,enthralled with this book! Next year, I’ll have to read it earlier in my unit to be sure everybody gets a chance to look at it on their own. They couldn’t get enough of it!