Spartacus the Spider

Despite his parents' aspirations ("Honor and fame! This is what my parents wished for me. So they named me Spartacus"), Spartacus's circumstances differ comically from his namesake's. He's a small, furry spider, living in Delessert's trademark dreamy pink landscape, surrounded by creatures with glittery eyes and buckteeth. He's a warrior of a sort, though; he's out to catch flies and moths. Delessert (Moon Theater) portrays him as a gladiator with a miniature helmet, shield, and spear, but they're no help. "I learned to spin threads, but I was not very good at it. Threads broke. Webs drooped. I became overwhelmed by a deep sense of failure." He persists, building a super-strong web by doubling and tripling his own silk, but he is instantly appalled by the carnage his new web brings: "If my web couldn't ever be broken, the world's entire moth population might pile up in it... And flies, even birds! Airplanes?" Though it's a conventional theme—defining heroism not as brute strength, but as being true to oneself—Delessert's poignant exploration of the spider's existential self-doubt is anything but. Ages 5–up. (Sept.)