Book Review: Luigi: The Spider Who Wanted to Be a Kitten

Knudsen, Michelle. Luigi: The Spider Who Wanted to be a Kitten. Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2024.

This front cover pulled me in as I walked past.

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My second son has a growing interest in spiders, so when I saw Luigi: The Spider Who Wanted to Be a Kitten at the library, I snatched it up. The cover is adorable, and I looked forward to reading it aloud with the kids.

Luigi likes sleeping by himself in a dark corner under the sofa—or does he?

A rather large, hairy spider finds himself a nice dark space under a sofa in an old house. He is discovered by the old lady who lives in the house, who mistakes him for a kitten, adopts him, and names him Luigi. Used to feeling rejected and lonely, over time Luigi grows to like his new name and enjoy the companionship with the lady. He decides to be the best kitten he can be. When the lady's friends come over for a game night, Luigi worries that they'll blow his cover, but he's about to learn an important lesson about friendship. 

What will Betty do when she realizes Luigi is a spider, not a kitten?

We enjoyed this sweet little story, with a relationship somewhat reminiscent of that in Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea. The lady—we find out her name is Betty toward the end—is kind and gentle, neat and orderly. But that doesn't mean she isn't fun: she hosts a game night every Friday, and has kitten food and toys in the cupboard, ready for a new friend! I enjoyed the personality of this old woman, whose glasses prescription we suspected needed an update—until we caught her sly glance in this picture.

Betty glances toward Luigi to see his reaction to her friend's question.

Luigi is rather adorable, isn't he? And he makes a cute kitten! We enjoyed the fact that this "kitten" has five legs. We noticed that Luigi had several other pairs of eyes, but for the cuteness factor they are fairly indistinguishable from eyebrows. I appreciated that Luigi was lacking fangs, but it was a little distracting (though forgivable) that his legs weren't always coming from his cepholathorax (and didn't have a consistent segment of origin throughout the book). 

Look at how he uses his legs for ears and a tail!

The cozy illustrations endear Luigi and Betty to you, and we enjoyed many of the subtle details throughout the book, like the spiderweb border on some pages, the type of slipper Betty wears at the beginning compared to at the end of the story, and how you can guess whose feet are Betty's even when you can't see her face. 

The story brings up ideas of comparison, friendship (including respecting boundaries), and being loved for who we are. You can have many discussions with your children about different aspects of the story that will encourage empathy and self-acceptance. We delighted in this heartwarming story, and we think you will, too. 

A true friend loves you for who you are.