As with her debut folkloric collection, Piskies, Spriggans, and Other Magical Beings: Tales from the Droll-Teller, in which she paired each selection with a brief discussion of the superstitions associated with it (or the magical being in it), Shirley Climo presents nine folktales in Someone Saw a Spider, each followed by a brief factual aside about spiders. Unlike that earlier volume, which set out folktales from one small corner of the world (Cornwall), this book's contents are drawn from diverse traditions, ranging from the Japanese to the Liberian. The result is an engaging title that is both informative and entertaining, with appealing black and white illustrations by Dirk Zimmer, who also worked on Alvin Schwartz's In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories. Selections include:

Arachne's Gift, the classical Greek myth (here taken from Ovid's interpretation) in which the proud weaver Arachne pays a price for refusing to cede superiority to the goddess Minerva. The Arachnida class, to which spiders belong, is named after this figure.

The Cloud Spinner, a Japanese tale in which poor farmer Yosaku is aided by the spider whose life he saved. When the snake from which he saved her reappears, the spider must flee to the safety of the sky, where she weaves the clouds. The secret weaving component of this story put me strongly in mind of the tale of The Crane Wife.

The Spider Brothers Make the Rainbow, a story from the Achomawi people of northern California, in which Spider Woman's two sons - at the instigation of Coyote - convince Old-Man-Above to stop the never-ending rains. The rainbow - Old-Man-Above's sign that he intends to do just that - appears for the very first time, as a result of their journey.

How Spider Got His Waistline, an Ananse tale from Liberia, in which Oldman Spider's tricks finally get him into trouble, when his stealing from Leopard is discovered.

The Prophet and the Spider, a Muslim story of the Prophet Mohammed, in which Mohammed and his disciple, Abu Bakr, flee from their pursuers in the desert outside of Mecca, and are shielded by a spider, who weaves her web across the entrance to the cave in which they are hidden.

The Spider and the King, an old Scots legend, in which King Robert the Bruce, on the run from his English enemies, is inspired by the ceaseless efforts of a small spider, who tries time and again to weave her web in the hut where he has taken refuge.

Father Spider Comes to Dinner, a Russian tale in which Father Spider is invited into town one especially wet summer, when the mosquito population has burgeoned beyond all other control, and is driving the townspeople wild.

The Spellbound Spider, a Portuguese fairy-tale, in which lazy Marco, seeking his fortune in the world, must hold to his vow, and marry the first female he encounters - a spider! His unusual wife turns out to be more than he expected, however, in a story that reminded me of tales like [book:The Frog Princess|5028846].

And finally, Sally Maud, Zachary Dee, and the Dream Spinner, a Euro-American tale from the Ozarks, in which the poverty-stricken Zachary Dee finds a way - with the help of a spider - to court the much-sought-after Sally Maud. ( )