Miss Spider Is Having A Tea Party

Miss Spider Is Having A Tea Party
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Kids and parents can enjoy the bright and beautifully colored scenes of this interactive adventure. © Simon & Shuster Interactive.

Though this game is targeted toward fostering interaction with a four to seven year-old skill set, parents will enjoy the colors and challenges along with their children, while possibly taking additional delight in the whimsical and lyrical writing.

As an interactive game developer, Simon and Shuster Interactive focuses on branded properties from the children's worlds of Richard Scarry to the adult sarcasm of Daria (Daria’s Sick, Sad Life Planner).

Violet’s Miss Spider Role

According to Kirk, the final drawing of Miss Spider was very different from how he first envisioned her. "The real look of a spider is actually quite frightening," said Kirk. "Miss Spider is primarily yellow, versus her original red, with a non-spidery pointed nose and a lock of red hair that matches the freckles sprinkled across her cheeks."

David Kirk's role as a creator for children began as founder and designer for two toy companies, Ovicular Toyworks and Hoobert Toys. His hand-painted wooden toys were packaged in boxes decorated with one of Kirk's paintings. One of those toy box illustrations inspired book publisher Nicholas Callaway, to ask Kirk to create a children's book.

"I thought a story about insects was appropriate because of my daughter's interest in bugs," said Kirk. "She has always picked them up, jumping spiders to caterpillars. Once a large carpenter ant was biting her and my wife knocked it down and squashed it. Violet was very upset feeling the retribution for such a little bite was too severe."

Now the oil painting and word driven universe created for his daughter Violet is being transformed into a living environment through the CD-Rom, an upcoming movie project, a line of toys and a recurring television feature that will launch this spring.

A Washington, DC-based freelance journalist, Jacquie enjoys writing about the electronic entertainment and edutainment mediums, including the Internet. She is a frequent contributor to the Washington Times and Krause Publication magazines. She has won the 1998 Certificate of Award granted by the Metropolitan Area Mass Media Committee of the American Association of University Women. Jacquie is a fan of animation and video games but admits to being unable to play them!