The Alarming Career of Sir Richard Blackstone

"Twelve-year-old Henry Hewitt has been living by his wits on the streets of London, dodging his parents, who are determined to sell him as an apprentice. Searching for a way out of the city, Henry lands a position in Hampshire as an assistant to Sir Richard Blackstone, an aristocratic scientist who performs unorthodox experiments in his country manor ... Sir Richard is also kind, and Henry knows he has finally found a place where he belongs. But everything changes when one of Sir Richard's experiments accidentally transforms a normal-sized tarantula into a colossal beast that escapes and roams the neighborhood"--Provided by publisher.