The Across The Spider-Verse Book Easter Egg That You Can Buy In Real Life

Contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"

There are plenty of Easter eggs in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," ranging from comic book references to nods to other movies about the friendly neighborhood superhero. However, one of them was actually put into the animated adventure with the intention of helping parents communicate with their kids.

Toward the end of the film, Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) can be seen reading a book called "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk." It wasn't made up for the movie, either, as it's a real book by authors Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. While speaking to the Reelblend Podcast, Phil Lord revealed that the book was one of several mental health and parenting-themed books that his mother recommended for the movie. Lord's mom is a marriage and family therapist, so she knows what she's talking about.

At first, the filmmakers chose this particular book as it was the best-looking one from the art department's drawings. Their decision proved to be more fruitful, though, as the book aligns with the messages "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" wants to convey.

While the book was originally added to "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" for aesthetic reasons, "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk" complemented the film's themes, especially in regard to communication and parenting.

Speaking about the book, Phil Lord described its inclusion in the movie as a happy accident. "It turned out to be really thematic because, you know, throughout the movie, people are asking each other to listen. Like four or five different types. So it felt like a miracle of purpose," he told the ReelBlend Podcast.

Furthermore, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" gives us a Spider-Dad version of Peter Parker, so having him read a book about parenting makes sense. In the aforementioned interview, Christopher Miller said that the book is about children and parents learning to communicate with each other, which is one of the film's core ideas. "It's all about parenting and the developing relationships between children and parents, and how they both need to evolve together and grow up together."