1. Bibliography
Black, Holly and Tony DiTerlizzi. 2003. The Field Guide. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780689859366
2. Plot Summary
Nine-year-old twins, Jared and Simon, their thirteen-year-old sister Mallory and their mom move into great-aunt Lucinda’s rundown Victorian house after their father leaves them. The children begin hearing strange noises in the walls immediately and find and destroy a nest in the wall. The children find a secret room, an old book, Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, which turns out to be a guide to faeries and eventually, a little brownie named Thimbletack who is about the size of a pencil and talks in rhyme. Strange things happen to Mallory and Simon at night after they destroy Thimbletack’s nest. Jared is blamed for tying Mallory’s hair to the headboard and freezing Simon’s tadpoles. The children appease the brownie by building him a new home. As the book ends, he warns the children that keeping the field guide will result in harm.
3. Critical Analysis
The first book in this series is written in short paragraphs in a smooth, approachable style with each chapter ending with suspense. Though this book does not contain much of the story’s plot, it introduces the characters and the story to follow and ends leaving the reader wanting to read the sequel. The characters are well established in this volume and so is their family dynamic. Jared has been labeled as a troublemaker (“She thinks you’ve been acting weird ever since Dad left. Like getting into all those fights at school.”) while Simon is an animal lover who brought with him fish, mice, and lizards among other animals. Mallory’s main focus is fencing and is very competitive, and their mother Helen is appreciative to have somewhere to live (“If your great-aunt Lucinda hadn’t let us stay, I don’t know where we would have gone. We should be grateful.”). Black uses detailed descriptions to help the reader visualize the happenings in the story (“Taking a breath, Jared pushed up the lid. It was full of very old, moth-eaten clothes. Underneath, there was a pocket watch on a long chain, a tattered cap, and a leather satchel full of old, odd-looking pencils and cracked bits of charcoal.”) The black-and-white in depth illustrations that appear on almost every two page spread compliment the text while bringing the strange world the Spiderwick Estate alive. A table of contents, a list of “full-page” illustrations, a map of the Spiderwick Estate, and an introductory letter from the authors as well as a copy of the original letter to Mrs. Black and Mr. DiTerlizzi from the Grace children can be found at the beginning of the text.
4. Review Excerpts and Award
Starred review in Kirkus: “Readers who are too young to read Harry Potter independently will find these have just the right amount of menace laced with appealing humor and are blessed with crisp pacing and, of course, DiTerlizzi’s enticingly Gothic illustrations.”
Starred review in Publishers Weekly: “Appealing characters, well-measured suspense and an inviting package will lure readers on to The Seeing Stone...Youngsters may well find themselves glancing over their shoulders as they eagerly follow the events.”
Review in VOYA: “Nearly every second page is embellished with the ink drawings of DiTerlizzi, evoking a delicious classical sense in this modern fantasy. Black...keeps the dialogue snappy and the children’s personalities distinct.”
Review in Horn Book: “The individual books do not stand alone and the first mostly sets the stage, but the writing is fast paced and action-packed. Retro black-and-white spot art adds atmosphere.”
Review in School Library Journal
International Reading Association’s Children’s Choices
5. Connections
· Create your own brownie. Write a description of his/her personality including likes and dislikes. Be sure to include an illustration.
· Take the trivia quiz over the Spiderwick Chronicles at www.kidsreads.com/funstuff/trivia/spiderwick-triv.asp.
· Subsequent titles in this series:
The Seeing Stone. ISBN 9780689859373
Lucinda’s Secret. ISBN 9780689859380
The Ironwood Tree. ISBN 9780689859397
The Wrath of Mulgarath. ISBN 9780689859403
Black, Holly and Tony DiTerlizzi. 2003. The Field Guide. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780689859366
2. Plot Summary
Nine-year-old twins, Jared and Simon, their thirteen-year-old sister Mallory and their mom move into great-aunt Lucinda’s rundown Victorian house after their father leaves them. The children begin hearing strange noises in the walls immediately and find and destroy a nest in the wall. The children find a secret room, an old book, Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, which turns out to be a guide to faeries and eventually, a little brownie named Thimbletack who is about the size of a pencil and talks in rhyme. Strange things happen to Mallory and Simon at night after they destroy Thimbletack’s nest. Jared is blamed for tying Mallory’s hair to the headboard and freezing Simon’s tadpoles. The children appease the brownie by building him a new home. As the book ends, he warns the children that keeping the field guide will result in harm.
3. Critical Analysis
The first book in this series is written in short paragraphs in a smooth, approachable style with each chapter ending with suspense. Though this book does not contain much of the story’s plot, it introduces the characters and the story to follow and ends leaving the reader wanting to read the sequel. The characters are well established in this volume and so is their family dynamic. Jared has been labeled as a troublemaker (“She thinks you’ve been acting weird ever since Dad left. Like getting into all those fights at school.”) while Simon is an animal lover who brought with him fish, mice, and lizards among other animals. Mallory’s main focus is fencing and is very competitive, and their mother Helen is appreciative to have somewhere to live (“If your great-aunt Lucinda hadn’t let us stay, I don’t know where we would have gone. We should be grateful.”). Black uses detailed descriptions to help the reader visualize the happenings in the story (“Taking a breath, Jared pushed up the lid. It was full of very old, moth-eaten clothes. Underneath, there was a pocket watch on a long chain, a tattered cap, and a leather satchel full of old, odd-looking pencils and cracked bits of charcoal.”) The black-and-white in depth illustrations that appear on almost every two page spread compliment the text while bringing the strange world the Spiderwick Estate alive. A table of contents, a list of “full-page” illustrations, a map of the Spiderwick Estate, and an introductory letter from the authors as well as a copy of the original letter to Mrs. Black and Mr. DiTerlizzi from the Grace children can be found at the beginning of the text.
4. Review Excerpts and Award
Starred review in Kirkus: “Readers who are too young to read Harry Potter independently will find these have just the right amount of menace laced with appealing humor and are blessed with crisp pacing and, of course, DiTerlizzi’s enticingly Gothic illustrations.”
Starred review in Publishers Weekly: “Appealing characters, well-measured suspense and an inviting package will lure readers on to The Seeing Stone...Youngsters may well find themselves glancing over their shoulders as they eagerly follow the events.”
Review in VOYA: “Nearly every second page is embellished with the ink drawings of DiTerlizzi, evoking a delicious classical sense in this modern fantasy. Black...keeps the dialogue snappy and the children’s personalities distinct.”
Review in Horn Book: “The individual books do not stand alone and the first mostly sets the stage, but the writing is fast paced and action-packed. Retro black-and-white spot art adds atmosphere.”
Review in School Library Journal
International Reading Association’s Children’s Choices
5. Connections
· Create your own brownie. Write a description of his/her personality including likes and dislikes. Be sure to include an illustration.
· Take the trivia quiz over the Spiderwick Chronicles at www.kidsreads.com/funstuff/trivia/spiderwick-triv.asp.
· Subsequent titles in this series:
The Seeing Stone. ISBN 9780689859373
Lucinda’s Secret. ISBN 9780689859380
The Ironwood Tree. ISBN 9780689859397
The Wrath of Mulgarath. ISBN 9780689859403
