As if being attacked by goblins and a bridge troll weren't enough, Jared is now being targeted by Thimbletack. Simon is keeping an injured and very hungry griffin hidden in the carriage house. And Mallory is convinced the only way to get things back to normal is to get rid of the Guide. But that doesn't seem to be an option. With more creatures from Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You popping up, the Guide seems to be the only protection the Grace kids have. But why do the faeries want it so badly? There's only one person to go to for answers -- crazy, old Aunt Lucinda!
My thoughts:
This book continues to veer away from the movie. I know it has been awhile since I saw the movie but I don't recall the elves being in it at all. As we continue to get to see how much of the fantastical world of fairy exists within our own, things start to become even more scary. The sibling fighting and disagreements ring very true to life and I like how the children have the chance to work them out on their own, for the most part, rather than showing them needing adult intervention. I would love for my own children to get better at resolving their own issues without my having to step in. Hopefully as they continue to get older this will become more of the norm in our house!
Aunt Lucinda doesn't seem as friendly here as in the movie either. The lure of the fairy food is better explained as is the possibility that a human could survive for longer than humanly possible if he or she were captured. It is setting up what is to come in the next two books. There are things I don't recall from reading it the first time which is one of the reasons why I do enjoy rereading books. Plus I want my children to see that books can be enjoyed more than once.
This time around I don't feel like my children are getting as into the story as they did when we read it the first time. I don't know if it is because it is not longer a new story to them, because we have read a lot of other books and met a lot of different characters since then, or if is just a product of them getting older.
Product Details
Pub. Date: October 2003
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Format: Hardcover , 128pp
Age Range: 7 to 11
Series: Spiderwick Chronicles Series , #3
ISBN-13: 9780689859380
ISBN: 0689859384
I haven't read any of them past the 1st one but this one does sound rather intriguing. I may have to visit this series someday. I do think my son may be getting too old for it, he really didn't get into the first one.
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