Katrina Garden Spider and the World Wide Web

By Ken Hornbeck

Katrina Garden Spider and the World Wide Web is the story of Katrina, a little spider who is not average. She is bigger than almost all of the other students in her class. Her mother and her Aunt Arlene call her “Big Boned.” Katrina loves to read. As she faces the completion of her education at the Frogs’ Foot Pond School, she knows that she must decide what to do next. She has always felt the “whoosh” inside her when picking out what book to read next, and hopes that same “whoosh” will guide her to her heart’s desire, and to what she can offer the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ken Hornbeck
• Release date: Mar 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476034805

Ken Hornbeck

Ken Hornbeck has worked quite a bit over the last 25 years as a facilitator, director and trainer in theater for social change. He has had the privilege of doing this work for the United Nations and in a lot of places in the United States. He has also worked as an actor, director, playwright, artist and set designer. Like Katrina, he has often not been sure what to do next...Katrina Garden Spider and the World Wide Web is his first children’s book.

Book preview

ABOUT THIS BOOK

I imagine that all artistic projects—books, plays, musical compositions—come about in different ways. Katrina Garden Spider and the World Wide Web first dropped into my brain title-first. Lying in bed one morning I got the title, along with the first page or two. The story then unfolded over the next few weeks. Once I was finished, I sent the first draft to my sister Laura, who has taught elementary school children for years and years, and is a writer in her own right. She told me I needed to be more descriptive, so I went back at it. Then the southeastern part of our country was hit by a hurricane the likes of which it had never known. This hurricane was named Katrina, and affected millions of people. I put my story on the shelf for about 4 years. At that point I thought I was done with the story, even though I wasn’t convinced the ending was right. In that version Katrina just left home, unsure of what was next for her even as she packed her suitcase. Time away from the pages helped.

Once I re-visited the story years later, it hit me. Katrina just HAD to be a writer. It was a major duh experience. So it was at that point I re-wrote the ending.

Later on, I was privileged to visit the International Community School (ICS) in nearby Avondale