Bird! In Spring Along Came a Spider Raymond McGrath
Bird! In Spring
Along Came a Spider
Raymond McGrath (2026)
Lerner/Graphic Universe
Junior graphic novel
48 pages, Paperback
ISBN 979-8-7656-4813-1
It’s the first day of spring and there’s a new bird in town. You can tell the bird is a fresh arrival because he’s carrying a suitcase. The tiny bird is also carrying a Things To Do note from his mother. Number One on the list is ‘Find a great tree.’ The bird is depicted as a small blue sphere of fluff with three feathers each for wings and tail. His eyes take up more than half his body-mass. He is unbelievably cute.
Raymond McGrath is a witty writer as well as a witty
illustrator. This is amply demonstrated when the bird’s first visitor literally
drops in. The following nervous conversation ensues:
Aah!
Aah!
Who are you?
I’m Spider.
You mean you are a spider.
My name is Spider. But, yes, I am a
spider. So, who are you?
I am Bird.’
Spider and Bird soon become an inseparable team. Strolling along the branch one day, Spider is impressed by Bird’s photo of his Mum and even more impressed by her reminder list.
‘Are you still working on Number Two?’ enquires
Spider, discreetly.
‘What was Number Two again?’ responds Bird,
shiftily.
It turns out that Mum’s second instruction was to ‘weave
a fancy nest.’ Bird’s first attempt at nest-building looks like an
explosion in a spaghetti factory, so it is up to Spider to show what can be
done with imaginative flair, twigs, straw and lots of spider-silk. The
resulting nest, with its rococo swags and bows certainly qualifies as fancy.
Bird and Spider continue to hit it off, mainly because Bird
can sing and Spider can dance. This is handy because Number Three on the Things
To Do List is ‘Sing and Dance the Springtime Song of Friendship.’ Spider, having eight legs, proves expert at
dancing.
Spider: ‘You do the singing!
Bird: And you do the dancing!
Spider: ‘Look out world. Here it comes!
Bird: ‘A one. And a two. And a one, two, three!’
What follows is a marvellously joyful series of pictures
showing Bird and Spider singing and dancing together. (This is a charming
tribute to Bill Watterson’s comic sequence where Calvin and Hobbes the tiger danced
to a classical record played at 78 rpm, except that Spider and Bird, between
them, have four more legs to dance with.)
Or will this problem have to wait for Volume 2 in the
Bird! Series: Bird in Summer: the Worm Turns Up (2026)
Bird! is a cutely illustrated, brilliantly written series that will introduce young readers to the joys of funny dialogue, the joys of funny pictures and the joys of funny graphic novels. Simultaneously.
Trevor Agnew
16 July 2026
[Review 3851.]
THE FOUR SEASONS - Raymond McGrath
Bird! In Summer the Worm Turns Up Raymond McGrath
Bird! In Summer
the Worm Turns Up 
Raymond McGrath (2026)
Lerner/Graphic Universe
Junior graphic novel
48 pages, Paperback
ISBN 979-8-7656-4814-8
Bird! In Summer
the Worm Turns Up is the second in the witty series about a tiny bird
making its way in the world, guided by a Things To Do note written by his Mum. His
current task is to alter Number Three on the Things To Do List from ‘Sing
and Dance the Springtime Song of Friendship’ to ‘Sing and Dance the Summertime
Song of Friendship.’ This is
important to Bird because Task Four is ‘Have Fun with Your New Best Friend.’
Because it is now Summer, the weather is hot and the cherries
on Bird’s tree are ripe. Bird is hot and listless, when Spider drops in to
further beautify Bird’s already fancy nest. Not only can Spider eat cherries
and decorate Bird’s nest with spider-silk flowers, but she can also keep up her
end of a conversation:
Spider: ‘So, have you found a best friend to share
your nest with yet?’
Bird: ‘Not yet. How about you?’
Spider: ‘What about me?’
Bird: ‘Have you found a best friend yet?’
Spider: ‘Uh. No. Not yet.’
(Young readers love characters who miss the obvious, so
they find an unexpected joy in this situation.)
Refreshed by cherries, Spider gets Bird to join in their singing
and dancing of the Springtime Summertime Song of Friendship. Spider’s
creation of two spider-silk parasols enables them to cope with the hot sun and
mount a fine performance. To their astonishment, somebody down on the ground
hears them; it is Worm, who has crawled out of his hole into the sunshine to enjoy
their performance.
Their first
conversation starts badly but helps dispel suspicions.
Worm: ‘Hang on. You aren’t going to eat me, are you?’
Bird: ‘What? No!’
Worm: ‘Are you sure? Some birds like to eat worms.’
Spider: ‘Bird doesn’t eat worms. He sips nectar. You
can tell from the shape of his beak.’
Worm: ‘Well, it would be nice to have someone around
who likes to talk about dirt.’
Bird: ‘I know how you feel. I’d like to have a best
friend to talk to and share my nest.’
Spider: ‘Me too.’
Bird: ‘But making friends is hard.’
Worm: ‘Sure is.’
To cheer them all up, Spider suggest that all three sing
and dance the Summertime Song of Friendship. The only problem is that Worm
can’t sing and can’t dance. Fortunately, he can play a drum, so the performance
goes ahead with unexpected results.
Raymond McGrath’s pixilated dialogue will also give young readers something to think about: ‘I read it on the internet,’ says Worm. How?
And where did Worm get a drum from? Probably the same
place that Spider got her lorgnette from, and Bird got his suitcase from. These
graphic novels are packed with tiny details, in text and picture, put there just
to amuse young readers (and some lucky old ones). This is genuinely skilful
stuff and I look forward to Volume 3 which I suspect will be set in Autumn.
Also, it is noticeable that in all the pictures of the cherry
tree, there is clearly a large, tortoise-shell cat lurking in the long grass
below The only thing you can be sure of in a Raymond McGrath book is that you
can’t be sure what’s going to happen next.
Enjoy.
Trevor Agnew
16 July 2026
[Review 3852]
THE FOUR SEASONS - Raymond McGrath
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