THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, BOOK 5: THE WRATH OF MULGARATH

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
AUTHORS: Tony DiTerlizzi (illustrator) and Holly Black (writer)
ISBN: 0-689-85940-6; hardback
114 pp., Text with B&W illos., $9.95

Jared Grace and his family:  twin brother, Simon, his older sister, Mallory, and their mother, Helen, moved into the secluded old house owned by their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick.  Peculiar accidents and pranks start to occur practically as soon as they walk through the door, and Jared, who started having trouble at his old school after his parents divorced, gets the blame.

Investigating their new home, the Grace children discover the truth about the Spiderwick estate.  The unseen and fantastic world of Faerie is all around them, as well as the strange creatures that inhabit it.  Jared also finds a worn old book, “Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You,” but it is the object of desire of many of the faerie creatures around them.

With The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book Five of Five: The Wrath of Mulgarath, the tale of the Grace Children comes to an end.  It’s Jared versus Mulgarath, the giant, shape-shifting ogre who is behind much of the evil committed around the Spiderwick estate.  The goblin hordes camp near Mulgarath’s junkyard palace, ready to launch Mulgarath’s war on humanity.  Byron, Simon Grace’s pet gryphon battles a poisonous wyrm.  And Arthur Spiderwick returns!

THE LOWDOWN:  One of the things that makes a fantasy series both beloved and memorable is the great ending, and The Wrath of Mulgarath goes out with a tremendous bang in a story that is a wellspring of magic and love.  It is as if illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi and writer Holly Black brought to bear all their creative talents to create a fountainhead of storytelling magic.

Black’s prose carries the reader through this lovely book on a tidal wave of enchantment and peril.  Each of DiTerlizzi’s wonderful illustrations illuminates the story and defines the enchanted mood and sells the Grace children’s perilous situations.  The reader will practically tear through the pages to see how DiTerlizzi’s illustrates the each new sequence.  It all adds up to make The Spiderwick Chronicles a magnificent juvenile fantasy that will enthrall action-loving modern audiences and because of its timelessness will entertain generations to come.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of faerie will find this book calling to them.

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