Their world is closer than you think!

CAPTIVATING BOOKS...THRILLING ADVENTURE

This month sees the re-release of the original Spiderwick Chronicles with brand new covers. If you haven't read them, try one today !

The Spiderwick Chronicles, Beyond Spiderwick and various stand-alone Spiderwick titles are a series of children's books by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. They chronicle the adventures of the Grace children - twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory - after they move into Spiderwick Estate and discover a world of faeries and all manner of magical creatures that they never knew existed.  It is the most wonderful world that's full of surprises, bucket loads of adventure and the stories are suspenseful and scary (but not too scary).  They are real page-turners with children as young as 7 held spellbound to the final page. The main characters are immensely engaging, the attractive design of the small hardbound books and the full-page pen and ink illustrations in every chapter, make the books particularly appealing to younger children who are independent readers or who enjoy having an adult read to them.

The Field Guide is the first in the Spiderwick Chronicles series and was followed by four more novels, along with several companion books. A second series, entitled Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, consists of three more books.

 How the Spiderwick Chronicles began:

According to a letter from co-author Holly Black that appears at the beginning of each of The Spiderwick Chronicles series, it all started when she and Tony DiTerlizzi were at a bookshop and were given a letter that had been left for them. The letter was from the Grace children, and it mentioned a book that “tells people how to identify faeries and how to protect themselves.” The letter went on to say, “We just want people to know about this. The stuff that has happened to us could happen to anyone.” A few days later, according to Black, she and DiTerlizzi met the Grace children, and the story the children told them became The Spiderwick Chronicles.

 The Grace Children's story:

After their parents’ divorce, the Grace children and their mother move into the ramshackle Victorian home previously occupied by their great-aunt Lucinda. The three children, thirteen-year-old Mallory and her nine-year-old twin brothers, Jared and Simon, are still adjusting to their parents’ divorce and are not happy with their new home. While Mallory has her fencing to keep her occupied and Simon his menagerie of animals to care for, Jared is angry and at loose ends.

Almost immediately, odd things begin to happen, beginning with strange sounds in the walls, and leading to the discovery of the small unexpected and unfriendly other occupants of the house and area. Written in the third person, the books emphasise Jared’s point of view. It’s poor Jared who tends to get blamed for all of the unpleasant things that happen, thanks to the faeries. He finds a secret room and an amazing book called Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, a book about identifying and protecting yourself from faeries.

And of course who could forget the hugely successful Spiderwick film released in 2008 to great acclaim, The Spiderwick Chronicles.

If you liked Spiderwick, you might also like to try The Search for WondLa, another fantastic fantasy from Tony DiTerlizzi.