"The Very Busy Spider"

Have you ever read The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle? Well, I have many times. My daughter enjoys the book as well, but she's never seen one like this up close until today. She was not pleased. But look at that beautiful web. Spiders are amazing creatures. I could not stand them as a child, but when I began to understand the good they do for us, and that the majority of them are harmless, I felt a little less fear.

These are not the typical garden spiders that usually make webs like this one. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I've seen these spiders making such "obtrusive" webs out in the open like this. They are everywhere around our house. We have two that have made webs in front of the entrance to our house, which we will unfortunately have to knock down. Does anyone know what kind of spider this is? Are they around your house too?