The Spiderwick Chronicles (Boxed Set) : The Field Guide; The Seeing Stone; Lucinda's Secret; The Ironwood Tree; The Wrath of Mulgrath (Spiderwick Chronicles)

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Summary: Spiderwick Chronicles are amazing
Review: At first, it seemed like the Spiderwick Chronicles were just a knockoff of the popular Series of Unfortunate Events books, but after reading the first installment I knew how wrong I was - the Spiderwick books are better!

I found the story to be excellent, the characters interesting and lovable, and the illustrations absolutely beautiful. These books can be enjoyed by readers of all ages, from young children to full grown adults.

My only problem with the series was that I felt it could easily have been continued, but I guess all good things must come to an end. Highly recommended.

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Summary: Brownies Under the Bed
Review: I loved these books. Fun and exciting. After reading one of the books and turning off the light, I could swear there were faeries running around the room! Holly Black brings the fey to life. I hope she continues the Spiderwick Chronicles, I'm anxious for more. The illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi are wonderful as well. I recommend these books to everyone, no matter what their age.

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Summary: This will make a great movie!
Review: My boys & I have finished reading the last of this thriling five title series THE WRATH OF MULGRATH and I must say we are sorry the Grace children's story is not continuing. This series is an easy quick read that keeps the kids asking for more, so we will start reading them over and over again. The box set which includes The Field Guide, The Seeing Stone, Lucinda's Secret, The Ironwood Tree and the last book newly released, The Wrath of Mulgrath is in a very attractive gift box. The books are all durable hardbacks, wonderfully illustrated and make a GREAT gift. I highly recommend.

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Summary: Exciting books for mid-level readers
Review: My son was less than enthusiastic about reading until he got his hands on these books. We had a lot of trouble finding books that were interesting and exciting that were written for mid-level readers (My son was a 3rd grader when we bought the 1st four books). He wasn't quite ready for Harry Potter and ...Unfortunate Events. He read the whole Spiderwick series in a week and it built his confidence and enthusiasm to the point that he now (7 months later) LOVES to read just about anything we hand him. I would (and do) reccommend these books to all of my friends!

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Summary: these books are awesome
Review: one reason i really liked these books was because of the depictions of the mystical creatures the dwarves and trolls and faeries and elves there all shown so differently than any other book. The drawings in the book are great too they show lots of pictures of very scary looking creatures. All 5 books could be read in the time you spend on one chapter book. thats whats cool about them.the books are made for young kids but I reccommend them to any young adult who wants a quick read.its a wonderful about kids who hear things in the wall and it turns out to be a brownie. And it leads to them finding a book with hidden secrets of the mystical underground. It turns out to be a huge adventure and 5 amazing books.

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Summary: spiderwick
Review: The Spiderwick books flit between delightful fairy story, mundane family life, sinister mystery, and rollicking high adventure and the combination is indeed a magical one. While the books vary in their allure--book two is by far the best read--together they create a convincing, fully realized world of magic that at once draws from a long tradition of fairy lore (Black did her research...) and is something entirely new (...and then let her imagination take over).

Despite my sincere enjoyment of the stories, I did find some of the marketing ploys of this five-book set a bit irksome. The series of unfortunate letters which opened each of the books smacked of copycat commercialism. Black and DiTerlizzi are far too pedestrian--a word which here means lacking any connection to a mysterious Beatrice or V.F.D.--to be introduced as "characters" interacting in the fictional world of the Grace children. Furthermore, I'm baffled by the choice to break up the five episodes into separate books when the overall storyline really dictates a single novel. The structure of these stories is less Harry Potter and more Huckleberry Finn--and should have been packaged as such. I'm sure some upstanding editor at Simon and Schuster waged a battle of epic proportions on this very issue; sadly, in the fairyland of publishing, the Mulgaraths of the marketing world won. After all, you can't sell a boxed set when you only have one book.

One final note: Perhaps publishers do have a conscience. Suppressed guilt would explain the lavish and detailed craftsmanship that went into the production of the books, from cover design to paper choice. These details make the stories that much more of a joy to read; and on that score, the reader wins.