THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, BOOK 1: THE FIELD GUIDE

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
AUTHORS: Tony DiTerlizzi (illustrator) and Holly Black (writer)
ISBN: 0-689-85936-9; hardback
114 pp., Text with B&W illos., $9.95

In The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book One of Five: The Field Guide, Jared Grace moves into a dilapidated Victorian mansion with his twin brother, Simon, older sister, Mallory, and mother Helen.  Their father has recently left the family, and for the first time Jared got into serious trouble at school after breaking another student’s nose.

Moving into great aunt Lucinda’s house (which Jared describes as looking “like a dozen shacks had been piled on top of one another”) hasn’t made life better.  Right away peculiar things start happening – strange sounds in the wall, and the siblings discover what they think is a really bizarre squirrel nest.  The discovery of a hidden library and  eventually a worn, old book entitled “Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You,” suggests that the Graces’ new home is probably a repository of the many mysteries.

However, when Mallory and Simon come under attack at night, Helen Grace has her eye on Jared as the malicious prankster.  Now, Jared has to enlist the aid of his siblings if he is going to reveal their mystery attacker who may not be human… or animal.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a fantasy serial aimed at readers, age 7 and up.  First published in May 2003, The Field Guide is an illustrated children’s book, and its publishing format is similar to the one used for the Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events books.

In The Field Guide, pictures augment the narrative.  Writer Holly Black uses simple language and tells a straightforward tale of mystery, discover, and ultimately wonder.  The pen and ink drawings by Tony DiTerlizzi establish mood and personify the eerie-infused Victorian setting.  Using over 20 full-page illustrations and numerous spots illustrations, DiTerlizzi illustrates and brings to life the mystery that is the world of the Spiderwick Estate, like opening a curtain and walking into a room of dusty peculiar things.  DiTerlizzi’s drawings recall Arthur Rackham via Richard Sala and are quite eye-catching.

Truth be told, the drawings are the real treat here.  The story, at least what makes up Book One, is engaging and fun in the way the Hardy Boys or other juvenile whodunits are.  But The Spiderwick Chronicles is a world that begs to be seen via drawings more so than it is to be imagined through prose.  Each woodcut-styled drawing makes you crave more and makes Spiderwick a special place worth revisiting.

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