Trapped

This story-within-a-story-first in the Spider's Child series-weaves quite a tangled web indeed. Jenny is bored and lonely after her family moves into a big, old house. In the attic she finds a dusty, leather-bound book entitled The Spider's Child and inscribed ""To Jenny, from the Weaver of the Web."" Puzzled, she begins reading the book, which tells of a girl named Sara whose mother's car breaks down on a deserted road. While her mother goes for help, Sara falls asleep, and upon waking wanders to a nearby farmhouse belonging to a loony old woman. Thinking the child is her errant daughter, the woman locks Sara in the basement. Jenny realizes that the farmhouse fits the exact description of a house she can see from her attic window, and bravely resolves to rescue Sara. Almost before she knows what has happened, she is locked in the farmhouse basement and Sara is free. Coming at last to a rather facile and predictable conclusion, Pierce's cliche-studded tale falls into a disappointing middle ground between suspense and fantasy. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)