Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles

Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles

Just when it seemed the book had closed on the Spiderwick Chronicles, a new chapter begins far from the old-fashioned charm of New England. Under the hot Florida sun, Nick Vargas and his annoying new stepsister, Laurie, stumble upon the faerie world. A nixie asks for their help to save her sisters and before they know it, Nick and Laurie are outrunning giants, negotiating with mermaids, and battling a monster that’s bigger than they’d ever imagined! Along with Nick’s brother, Jules, and some familiar faces, the kids find themselves in a race to save not only themselves, but all of Florida!

My excitement for these books cannot be contained. I absolutely adored the Spiderwick Chronicles with almost obsessive abandon and I had completely forgot about there being a set of sequels until Amazon so helpfully stalked my information and told me this set was half off.

Oh Amazon. You know exactly how to get my money.

Because there was no way I wasn’t buying this set.

These books are just as magical and unique as the first ones. While they exist within the same world, we’re now privy to all sorts of new Fair Folk and a whole new danger. The new characters – Nick, his older brother Jules, and their new stepsister Laurie – are all fantastically new to the world of Faerie. It’s always exciting when you get to see new characters open their eyes to their world.

To be honest, it’s everything I want in modern kids’ faerie stories. It’s complicated and intricate and draws you right in to the story so that you’ve read an entire book before you notice that any time has passed by.

Seriously. I read all three in one night. I couldn’t sleep with the story unfinished. It was that compelling.

If you have the means to pick this one up – library, bookstore, whatever – pick it up. I recommend it to everyone. It’s amazing.

The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Completely Fantastical Edition



If you read modern fantasy, chances are you’ve read Holly Black. While well known for her grungy urban fantasy stories Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside, she’s also an accomplished children’s author with The Spiderwick Chronicles.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a series of books about three siblings – Jared, Simon, and Mallory – who moved into an old house belonging to their great aunt. Unfortunately for them, the Spiderwick house has been watched by both good and bad faeries in order to seize a guide that Arthur Spiderwick had created years ago. Jared discovers this guide and the three children become unwilling participants in a battle between good and evil.

These books were originally bought for my youngest brother when he was about eight or nine years old. He read them quickly and told me that I should read them. I did and loved them. I recently picked up my own copies in the form the The Completely Fantastical Edition, which contains all five books, Tony DiTerlizzi’s sketchbook, The Lost Chapters, and a Spiderwick All-Star Gallery¹.

As I said before, I love the Spiderwick Chronicles. Even though it’s a children’s book, it takes a fairly dark look into the world of faerie without being too frightening. You learn very early on that you can’t always trust the fae, but if you’re clever enough, you can either persuade or trick them into helping you when you need it most. Too many stories try to sugar coat faeries into these nice little things that never do anything bad. Stories like Spiderwick are valuable to a child’s understanding of the world. It demonstrates that good people can sometimes do bad things or make terrible mistakes without confusing them as to who the real bad guys of the story are.

And these books are a lot of fun, which is very important in a children’s book. Even though the three kids in the story are kidnapped and threatened and have to fight hordes of goblins, the story never loses sight of the fun adventure aspects. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants a good faerie story or to anyone who has kids who like a good faerie story.




¹ Illustrations and drawings inspired by The Spiderwick Chronicles by other distinguished artists.