Holly Black

Holly Black is the bestselling author of contemporary fantasy novels for teens and children. Born in New Jersey in 1971, Holly grew up in a decrepit Victorian house piled with books and oddments. After graduating from The College of New Jersey in 1995, Holly worked as a production editor on medical journals and attended graduate school at Rutgers University in pursuit of a Masters in Library Science.

Her first book, Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, was published in 2002 by Simon & Schuster. Tithe was called "dark, edgy, beautifully written and compulsively readable" by Booklist, received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, and was included in the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults. Holly has since written two other books in the same universe, Valiant (2005), and the sequel to Tithe, Ironside (2007). Valiant was recorded as an unabridged audiobook by Renee Raudman for Listening Library, was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award for Young Readers and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.

Holly collaborated with her long-time friend, Caldecott award winning artist, Tony DiTerlizzi, to create the bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles. The first two books, The Field Guide and The Seeing Stone were released together in 2003 by Simon & Schuster, with the next three, Lucinda's Secret (2003), The Ironwood Tree (2004) and The Wrath of Mulgarath (2004), following in rapid succession. The Wrath of Mulgarath climbed to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The five-book serial has been called "vintage Victorian fantasy" by the New York Post and Time Magazine reported that "the books wallow in their dusty Olde Worlde charm." The chapter books were recorded as an audiobook by Mark Hamill for Listening Library.

The lavishly illustrated Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to The Fantastical World Around You (2005), The Notebook for Fantastical Observations (2005), and Care and Feeding of Sprites (2006) expanded the Spiderwick universe. To date, the books have been translated into 32 languages. Three more Spiderwick chapter books are planned, with the first one expected to be released in Fall of 2007.

The Spiderwick Chronicles are being adapted into a film by Paramount Pictures in conjunction with Nickelodeon Films starring Freddie Highmore and Sarah Bolger with Mark Waters as the director.

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Featured Books, with extracts by Holly Black