31. The Spiderwick Chronicles - The Field Guide

Title: The Spiderwick Chronicles – The Field Guide
Authors/Illustrators: Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Copyright Date: 2003
Number of Pages: 107
Reading Level: 9+
Genre: Fantasy

Summary
Jared Grace, his twin brother Simon and sister Mallory have just moved into their new home. New doesn’t quite describe it though because as Jered describes it the house looks like twelve shacks stacked on top of each other. The kids are less than excited about this move but their mother thinks this will be their chance to start over. Back in New York at Jared’s old school he got into a fight and broke another boy’s nose. Mrs. Grace believes it’s because of Jared’s dad walking out on them. Simon has his animals that he spends his time with and Mallory has her fencing that she takes out her aggression on. Jared hasn’t really found his own way to deal with it yet. While moving into the house Jared hears scratching in the walls and that evening so does Mallory and Simon. They go into the kitchen and Mallory breaks a hole in the wall. They find a bunch of junk including a broken mirror, Mallory’s medal, pieces of newspaper, a soap box and cockroach decorations. The dig through in hopes the “squirrel” will go away. They then find an old dumbwaiter and Jared volunteers to go up in it. He finds himself in an old library with no door. Suddenly something writes in the dust to watch his back. The next morning everyone is awakened by the screams of Mallory, she has little bruises all over her arms and her hair is tied in little bits to her headboard. Mrs. Grace believes Jared did it. Jared decides to explore and in the attic he finds clues that lead him to a book, a book of mythical creatures called The Field Guide. The next morning the kitchen is destroyed and Simon’s tadpoles have been frozen in the freezer. Jared is forced to clean everything up and when he does a trash bag is torn open and he sees the stuff from the wall. Jared decides to put back the stuff but he puts it in an old birdhouse from the attic. He believes that what was living in the wall was a boggart. Mallory and Simon help Jared to put everything together. Later the boggart shows himself to them but he has a message. They must destroy the book.

Recommendation
I think this book is one that will turn a reluctant reader into at least an interested one. I would recommend this to boys who maybe don’t feel they fit in at home and that they get blamed a lot for what goes wrong.

Problems/Conflict
There isn’t very much in the first book I feel like all that has been set is the scene. This can be seen as a positive point though as well because it makes the reader feel they have to read the next one.

My Reaction
This is a really creative story I can’t wait to read the next one. It only took me an hour to read which was a major positive! My hopes for these books is that Jared’s family really believe what he has to say so that he doesn’t feel so alone.