Andy The Spider: Captured (Volume 1)

By Samantha Rindfuss

*This is the new 2nd edition of the original "Andy The Spider" This book is written for Lower Middle Grade, Ages 7-10* Andy the spider is not good at weaving strong webs, so he often depends on his sister, Emily, who spins great webs for food. When Emily is kidnapped by Harry, a mean owl who is feared by everyone in the forest, Andy must summon all his bravery to rescue his sister. However, it turns out Emily is not the only creature in danger from Harry. In a continually-twisting plot, Andy enlists the help of new friends, including squirrels, owls, caterpillars and even humans, all of whom must join forces to bring Harry’s bullying to an end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Samantha Rindfuss
• Release date: Dec 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310682445

Book preview

Andy The Spider

Captured

Published by Samantha Rindfuss Schwertfeger at Smashwords

Copyright © 2014 By Samantha Rindfuss Schwertfeger

Book Cover Illustrations by Somnath Chatterjee of dotpixel.in

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

At the end of this book is a link to leave your review. It will help others who are considering buying this book to make an informed decision if it is right for them.

For more information about the Andy The Spider series, please visit www.andythespider.com

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CHAPTER 1

Carefully hiding behind a tree, Emily waited for something delicious to fly into her newly-built web. She looked around hoping she wouldn't find her brother, Andy, lurking nearby, waiting to steal her food before she got to it. He liked to do that lately, and this time she was prepared. This meal was all hers!

Emily heard a familiar buzzing sound soaring through the air. She looked up into the sky and saw a large fly coming close to the ground. Oh, how she hoped the fly would land in her web! Unlike her brother's poorly-made webs, hers was strong, and nothing escaped.

Andy had a difficult time making webs strong enough to catch his own food, so he had to rely on his sister. That meant she had to share. For just once, she wanted a meal all to herself.

Seconds later, the fly crashed into her web. Emily watched the poor, innocent fly try to escape. Sadly, its life was doomed.

Emily took a few steps toward her food when Andy came out of nowhere and sprang toward her web.

She ran after her brother. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough, and by the time she got to her food, half of it was already in Andy’s mouth.

What do you think you're doing? Emily scolded. She yanked the other half of the fly out of Andy's mouth. Being upset made her appetite disappear. She tossed the last of the food to the ground.

Hey! Andy whined with food still in his mouth. That was a waste of perfectly good food! What did you do that for?

I am the one who makes our webs! Why is it fair that you always get the first bite?

Andy shrugged. Sorry, you're too slow.

Emily tensed up. Who did he think he was? Even though Andy was slightly older, it did not give him any right to be so greedy!

That's it! No more! Emily yelled.

Andy swallowed his food. What?

I am not sharing my webs with you anymore! I spend a lot of time building them, and you take advantage of it! But, no! Not anymore! It’s time for you to learn to do it yourself!

Andy was at a loss for words. She had to be kidding with him. However, the pained look on her face told him she was serious.

How will I get my own food? he asked. You know I can't build good webs. That's why you do it for me!

Andy waited for his sister to respond, but she didn't say anything. Could she really be serious?

Emily sighed. She didn't have a mean bone in her body. What was she thinking? Yes, she was mad at her brother, but she couldn't let him starve.

There will be one condition, Emily said. I get the first bite. Since I am the one who catches the food, it's only fair. If I see you doing it, I'm cutting you off.

Fine, Andy said with a defeated sigh.

Andy and Emily were not your ordinary-looking spiders. Out of all of their hundreds of brothers and sisters, they were the biggest. They were almost the size of a tarantula. However, unlike tarantulas, Andy and Emily had the ability to weave webs. Both of them had purple, furry skin, but their design was what made them different from each other. Andy's skin was full of light purple spots. Emily's design was two yellow strips going down her back. They weren't normal spiders.

While Emily waited for her brother to finish eating, her stomach rumbled. She gazed over to where she’d thrown the rest of the food. She would have eaten it, but once something hit the ground, she refused to touch it.

Andy licked his mouth. So how about that race? You wanted a rematch, remember?

Emily rolled her eyes. Now? Sorry, but I'm too hungry to even think about chasing after you. Besides, we both know I'll never beat you. You're too fast.

Andy shrugged. Hey, I have to be good at something! It'll be fun! Please?

Emily knew her brother would keep bugging her until she agreed. Racing was the only game Andy liked to play. He always won, and he enjoyed the feeling that he was better than Emily at something.

Let's go! Andy yelled and dashed past his sister.

Can't you give me a head start once in a while? Emily took a deep breath and ran after her brother.

Andy had ran ahead of her so fast, Emily could not find him anywhere. She stopped running and noticed her surroundings. It was as if all the living creatures had left the woods, and she was the only one left. Emily did not like being alone. The feeling of being alone gave her chills.

I hope this isn't a joke you're playing, she whispered to herself.

Out of nowhere, something tackled Emily and she tumbled to the ground.

A scream escaped from her mouth.

When Emily turned around to see who had jumped on her, Andy stood there laughing.

Emily's heart pounded. You scared me!

I'm sorry, but it was funny, Andy said. "You should have seen the look on your face! You

Reviews for Andy The Spider

[crystalclancy · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I won this in a LibraryThing giveaway and read it myself before deciding if I would share it with my 9 year old son. I couldn't finish it, finding the dialogue very stilted and too many characters to keep straight. Just did not hold my interest.

[nschumacher85 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cute children's story. I had my nephew read it to me and he enjoyed it. The recommended reading age is 8, but he is 7 and had little trouble getting through it. Not a bad choice for kids in first or second grade.

[ginger72_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

For some reason this book could not hold my attention let alone my 6 year old. We both became bored with it but I trudged along to finish reading it. While it does contain a certain cuteness, talking animals and a karate chopping skunk, it just wasn't enough to pull us in.

[jaynep140 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was impressed by the descriptions and wording of this tale. I also enjoyed the brother/sister relationships of Andy and Emily, Harry and Tami, and Charlie and Sarah as well as the blooming romance of Charlie and Jessie. It brings together family, friends of different species, intrigue and even a fairy tale. This book is probably geared for early teens, however kids of all ages can easily understand and enjoy it.

[jennyonfire · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a cute book although I thought it was going to be geared toward a bit younger crowd. I thought it was more of a smaller kid book. Even so it was very interesting and I'm sure will be a hit with the 5+ kids. My son is 2 and wouldn't sit long enough to read it, however I enjoyed it!

[anrednesse · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I frequently read children's books for myself or when I read them out loud to my six year old. I generally stick with classic literature for children or books that are entertainingly written or have an interesting story. I will not be reading Andy the Spider out loud to anyone. I could barely get through it myself. Besides the missing punctuation and a few spelling errors that get in the way, the text is just not interesting. It lacks much narration. There is a lot of dialogue between all the characters, a lot of it very tedious. Is some of it realistic? Yes. But imagine if you had to listen to someone tell you a story and mention every tiny piece of dialogue that anyone in the story happened to have, even the most mundane bits. That's what you get in Andy the Spider. It reads like it was written by a child without much experience in writing.The story itself has potential but it's not worth wading through the whole book just to see how it all ends. The book could be re-written to be a good one but as it is, I would avoid it at all costs. There is too much good children's literature out there to spend any time on low quality writing.