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Titles in Order of Publication:
 THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES Book 1: THE FIELD GUIDE
Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689859368
Ages 7-up
128 pages
When you are young, you very often expect, and perhaps even want, things to be uncomplicated, easygoing and unchanging. For the three Grace children --- Jared, his twin brother Simon, and his older sister Mallory --- life has been positively full of changes lately. Their father is no longer living with them, they have moved to a house that looks as if it might collapse at any moment, and Jared has been getting into all sorts of trouble. Time for a fresh start, you might think. The problem is that something, or someone, seems to be trying to make life very difficult for the new residents of the Spiderwick estate.
A pair of peculiar letters at the beginning of the book gently, but firmly, pulls the reader into this story about three very ordinary children. We are invited to share in their problems, ones that we can easily relate to --- until Jared decides to explore the old house they are living in. Jared's problems cease to be familiar and become stranger and stranger. Unfortunately he is blamed for everything that goes wrong. Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black have brought Jared to life so well that the reader swells with indignation at the injustice of it all. He discovers a hidden room, a yellowed parchment that we too get to look at, and a field guide to "the Fantastical World Around You." Do you know what a boggart is? No? Neither does Jared, until he does some reading in the field guide. Nor does Jared see that he and the boggarts have something in common --- they are unpredictable and sometimes thoughtless when they're angry and unhappy.
Jared, then Simon, and finally Mallory all come to realize that there is more to this world than meets the eye. There are all kinds of strange and possibly dangerous creatures in their presence. This is exciting, yet it is also slightly worrying. What are the children to do with this bizarre field guide and with the knowledge that lies within it?
Presented to look like a personal diary or journal, this little book is beautifully illustrated throughout with drawings in the style of the great illustrator Arthur Rackham. This is one volume that cannot be put down once it is picked up.
--- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber
 THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES Book 2: THE SEEING STONE
Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689859376
Ages 7-up
128 pages
When we left Jared, Simon and Mallory Grace in Book One of the Spiderwick Chronicles, they were just beginning to adjust to their new life on the Spiderwick Estate. Going to a new school is never easy, and Jared is having a particularly difficult time of it. They were also just starting to realize the full potential of ARTHUR SPIDERWICK'S FIELD GUIDE TO THE FANTASTICAL WORLD AROUND YOU. The strange happenings in the old Spiderwick house seem to have calmed down. This rather dull state of affairs continues until Simon goes to look for his missing cat. While Simon is looking about, some invisible assailants seize him. Jared is witness to his twin's abduction but doesn't know what to do about this terrible incident. Thankfully for Simon, Thimbletack, the brownie, does. What Simon needs is a special tool to help him fight these invisible enemies. Thimbletack calls the tool The Seeing Stone.
What follows is a remarkable adventure that leaves one alternately breathless, horrified and worried. This is not for the faint of heart, for goblins are about and they have horrible ways and disgusting tastes. Jared and Mallory have to rescue their brother and, at the same time, dodge all kinds of horrible creatures. They also find themselves making strange alliances and helping others in need besides their brother. Who would have thought that three perfectly ordinary children would be called upon to do so much for so many?
We are left, as at the end of Book One, hanging and wondering what these three brave, kind, yet very human children are going to do next. With a plot full of twists and turns and wonderful illustrations, this is a book that will hook any reader or listener to a bizarre world that exists within our world, a remarkable creation of the authors' imagination.
--- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber
 THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES Book 3: LUCINDA'S SECRET
Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689859384
Ages 7-up
128 pages
• Read an Excerpt
Having the Field Guide to the Faerie world is supposed to give the person in possession of it an advantage over that world with answers to its puzzles and mysteries. Unfortunately for Simon, Jared and Mallory this is not the case. So far they have tangled with a truly pestiferous house boggart, barely escaped from an encounter with a troll and some extremely nasty goblins, and have a very large and hungry griffin in their carriage house. They have no answers, and they don't even know what to do with the guide currently in their possession. Thimbletack the boggart seems to think that it should be destroyed, and Mallory agrees. Jared, the self-appointed keeper of the Guide, cannot bear to think of destroying it.
The children finally decide that their only recourse is to ask the advice of someone who may know something about the Guide and its writer, their great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. The only person who may know anything is Arthur's daughter, their Aunt Lucinda. It turns out that the elderly lady knows all about the Faerie world; indeed she has been touched by it in a terrible way. Jared also discovers that the Guide, which he thought was safe in his backpack, is no longer there. What are the children to do now? They have lost the Guide and learned that their great uncle Arthur is also missing; the man disappeared seventy years previously.
What follows is a bizarre journey and encounters with creatures unlike any the children have met so far. Once again Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black have created a book that perplexes and carries one into a world where anything can happen --- where dark and evil creatures live and the children must be careful where they go if they want to survive.
Irresistible and enthralling, LUCINDA'S SECRET is difficult to put down. Filled with black ink line drawings and several beautiful full color illustrations, and presented in a journal format, THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES will be treasured for years to come.
--- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber (mjansengruber@mindspring.com)
 THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES Book 4: THE IRONWOOD TREE
by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689859392
Ages 7-up
128 pages
• Read an Excerpt
Mallory is facing her first real fencing challenge since the Grace family came to the Spiderwick Estate, and the twins and Mrs. Grace are going to her school to support her. Nothing strange has happened to the Grace children, and their uncle's "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You" is still missing. Perhaps the attacks on them by the creatures of the Faerie world have stopped for good. In fact, things have been so quiet that it almost seems as if none of their previous adventures happened at all. Except of course that they have a griffin in their garage still recuperating from an encounter with some goblins.
Then the nightmare begins, and it is so strange that Jared wonders if he's losing his mind. While the fencing duels are taking place, Jared observes a boy rummaging through Mallory's bag. On closer inspection he sees that the boy looks like Simon and yet "his" Simon is still sitting in the stands with their mother watching the fencing. Are there now two Simons?
Jared goes to investigate and comes face-to-face not with a copy of Simon but with a copy of himself. And yet this duplicate is malevolent and clearly something from the Faerie world. Jared pulls out his knife in self-defense --- just as the Principal arrives. The Faerie creature, or shape-shifter, has in the meantime changed into a sorry looking little boy with blond hair. Now, all that the Principal sees is Jared threatening a terrified child. Jared is in the soup again and this time he knows he is in real trouble.
Then, to add to this already unpleasant situation, the twins discover that Mallory is missing. Clues that they find and an ominous message written on a rock that says "TRADE" make it clear that Mallory has been abducted by the Faerie creatures and that they will have to trade the Guide for Mallory in order to get her back. There is a problem, however: the Grace twins don't have the guide anymore.
The boys remember that the map they found some time ago said that dwarves lived in the quarry that lies near the Spiderwick Estate. They are sure that the rock with the message on it was from the quarry as well. Clearly this is where they have to go to find Mallory. What follows is a frightening and remarkable adventure in the world of the dwarves, under the ground and far from the reassuring light of day.
Once again Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black have produced a gripping, somewhat scary, story in their series about Mallory, Jared and Simon Grace. Wonderfully paced, and with new insights into the character of Jared, THE IRONWOOD TREE is hard to put down once one has begun to read it. At the end we are left hanging and with a definite understanding of what the Faerie creatures want. Unfortunately for the Grace children, this desire sounds decidedly unpleasant.
--- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber (mjansengruber@mindspring.com) of Through The Looking Glass Book Review (www.lookingglassreview.com)
 THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES Book 5: THE WRATH OF MULGARATH
by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689859406
Ages 7-up
160 pages
• Read an Excerpt
It's hard to imagine a worse situation than the one that Simon, Jared and Mallory are in now. After escaping from Mulgarath the ogre and his goblin servants, the three dispirited and exhausted children head home. Upon their arrival at the Spiderwick estate they discover that the place has been ransacked and, most terribly of all, their mother has been abducted. Even though Mulgarath has Uncle Spiderwick's infamous Field Guide, there's apparently something else he wants from the Grace children. The question is what, and how will they rescue their mother without becoming Mulgarath's prisoners themselves?
The children feel unprepared for this new adventure. However, they receive unexpected and surprisingly useful assistance from some very unlikely characters. There's the highly annoying and untrustworthy hobgoblin, Hogsqueal; Thimbletack the boggart, who feels very badly about the fact that he wasn't able to protect the Spiderwick Estate and Mrs. Grace from Mulgarath's horrible goblins; Byron, the griffin, who has a most useful appetite; and Arthur Spiderwick himself, who supplies Jared with important information.
With these helpers, Simon, Jared and Mallory set off for Mulgarath's headquarters not knowing what to expect or how they're going to free their mother. With sharp wits, courage, intelligence and determination as their only real weapons, this is a battle they cannot afford to lose --- for everyone's sake.
Exciting and filled with unexpected twists and turns, this fifth and final installment in the first cycle of The Spiderwick Chronicles is a most satisfying read. Readers will encounter loss, grief and recovery, making this last book especially memorable.
--- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber, editor of Through The Looking Glass Children's Book Review (www.lookingglassreview.com)
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