Rating:  Summary: Loved it! Review: My two sons and I loved this book! I teach and am always looking for books that are age appropriate. Harry Potter is high interest, but too difficult for most of my kids. This will give those children what they want at their reading level!!! This series definitely fills the void!
Rating:  Summary: The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles) Review: My five year old listened to this entire book in one sitting and was totally enthralled! He couldn't wait to begin Book Two and now that we have completed it he has convinced us to re-read The Field Guide to him. (All in less than six hours!) He loves the mystery and the very realistic personalities of the children. This is a fantastic find for him as he is counting down the days to the release of the next Harry Potter book. The Field Guide has wonderful imagery and like Harry Potter, a sense of innocent fantasy that young children love. Unlike the Harry Potter books, these are small enough for a "quick" read. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black for these superb stories!!!
Rating:  Summary: Fascinating read & challenging riddles. Review: The Field Guide, in my mind, is superior in the realm of children's lit. Even in the present-day "Renaissance of Children's Literature" it is not often that one stumbles across a book with some many postive characteristics. For one, I do not understand the hullabaloo surrounding the similarity in packaging to the Lemony Snicket books. This book was not dark or full of satire like the Series of Unfortunate Events books. Truly, the packaging of these series is where the similarities begin and end. These series is probably more appropriate for a younger audience as well, except for one expletive ("crap") that adults may find objectionable. The family dynamics are believeable. The sibliings love each other and help each other out, but that doesn't stop rivalry or redicule. The story begins as the family moves into a new house, sans the father. After some exploring with the dumbwaiter, the children find mystifying secrets. The author's secrets are tough to figure out, but is good for mind-stretching purposes. I would especially recommend this book for children who may be too young for Harry Potter.
Rating:  Summary: good book no one read Review: It was Harry Potter meets series of unfourtunate events.
Rating:  Summary: Spiderwick Review: Written in the spirit of Harry Potter and The Series of Unfortunate Events, Books One and Two of the The Spiderwick Chronicles are delightful. Thanks to Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, the Grace kids' story, complete with rhyming riddles, injured griffins, and hobgoblin spit, is artfully told. I have only one complaint...the third book isn't out yet!
Rating:  Summary: A Real Page Turner Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles Book 1, written by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, should do nicely for fans of Lemony Snicket who are looking for something new to read. The story concerns three children who go to live in a house inhabited by faeries after the children's parents have divorced. However these faeries are the real kind; mischievous, troublesome and sometimes violent. Not to worry though, everything works out fine once the children learn to understand the ways of the faeries. This first book entitled "The Field Guide" is about how the children discover the faeries and a book called "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You." This book is just what it implies, a guide to the faeries. The writing is wonderful but the real reason to buy The Spiderwick Chronicles is for the illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi. If you aren't already familiar with his work in books ...then you are in for a real treat. Mr. DiTerlizzi's work is jaw droppingly brilliant. I highly recommend The Spiderwick Chronicles....
Rating:  Summary: An amazing book from some amazing talents. Review: Mr. DiTerlizzi is an outstanding illustrator and writer of childrens' books that recapture the wonder of childhood. From begining to end the book blended the real human feelings and trials of childhood with the fantastical denizens of childhood dreamscapes. I enjoyed it very much and highly recommend this dynamic duo's (DiTerlizzi-Black) other colaborative works to come.
Rating:  Summary: A nine year old reader and his mom Review: An extremely good book. Once you start, you can't stop reading until you finish! Jared, a 10 year old boy, discovers something special about his house. With his twin brother Simon and his sister Mallory, they discover what it is. My son begged to stay up until he finished the book-- something that hasn't happened since Harry Potter!
Rating:  Summary: Short but Sweet Review: Nine-year-old Jared Grace is at a strange point in his life. His father has just left his family and he was nearly expelled from school after getting into a fight (he came out with a black eye, the other kid left with a broken nose). Also he doesn't seem to be good at anything like his intelligent animal obsessed twin brother Simon or his thirteen-year-old sister Mallory, a fencing expert. When the three of them and their mother move from the house they've grown up in to Spiderwick Manor, their crazy aunt's crumbling home, Jared is not too pleased. But strange things start to happen once Jared steps inside the door. A mysterious room is found and attacks are made on his family. Special posessions go missing and the blame is all placed on our hero. Jared knows that he must find the answers to all of these strange occurrences and he finds them in a book, a very strange book, a book on fairies. In the past few years, children's literature has received many new solid novels and series. Some examples are Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl Series, Neil Gaiman's Coraline, and Harry Potter himself. Although I doubt the Spiderwick Chronicles will get as much publicity as these other books but that doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve some praise of it's own. The Field Guide is a tiny book, but it's filled with creativity and imagination, a great beginning to a series. It reads much like a cross between A Series of Unfortunate Events and Diane Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci Quartet with a spice of Coraline's creepiness. Jared is a great character, much like any nine year old. This is the first book in a series of five. The second book in the series, The Seeing Stone, is already out and I can't wait to read it!
Rating:  Summary: great adventure Review: This might be a childrens story but anyone who has ever been a kid will love this book! A creepy old house, some scary occurances, a hidden room, and a mysterious book all help to turn the lives of the three Grace children upside down. They must use their talants; Mallory's as a fencer, Simon's for handeling animals, and Jarad's natural curiosity, to save themselves and to solve what is causing the disasters in the big strange house they have moved into with their Mom. Their adventuures are scary, exciting, and dangerous as they learn about the very real world of Fairy that intersects with ours.
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