by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
June 2014

The second series of Spiderwick novels is comprised of three books, each a bit longer than those in the original series.

1. The Nixie's Song
2. A Giant Problem
3. The Wyrm King

The setting is Florida where we meet a new set of characters. Nick and Jules' father has remarried after being widowed.  Now Nick has to give up his room to his new stepsister, Laurie.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Laurie is a bit odd. She carries around a book called Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You.  She wanders around outside looking for fairies.  Nick considers her a nusience until he accidentally receives "the sight" and is able to see a nixie (kind of a water sprite) next to the pond in the neighborhood.

From here Nick and Laurie begin an adventure that involves nixies, mermaids, giants and a hideous creature called a wyrm king.  The Spiderwick children show up at one point as does a new character named Jack "No see um".

The danger and adventure in this book is more thrilling than in the first series. That's not to say that the first series wasn't thrilling, but when the threat is the total destruction of Florida the danger is more pressing.

The end of the series left me wishing for more.  There is no clue at the end of the book that there will be more, but you never know.

by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
June 2014


I read the five volume series of The Spiderwick Chronicles:  1. The Field Guide; 2. The Seeing Stone; 3. Lucinda's Secret; 4. The Ironwood Tree; 5. The Wrath of Mulgarath.

These are all very short and end with a cliff hanger. They could have been made into one book, but it was much more fun reading them one by one.

Twins Jared and Simon Grace and their sister Mallory and mother Helen move to the Spiderwick Estate to make a new start for themselves after their father left them.  The estate is old and in terrible shape, but it's in the family and the only place to live until other arrangement can be made.  It belongs to Great Aunt Lucinda who is now in a mental hospital.

It doesn't take long for the Grace children to realize that something strange is going on at Spiderwick. Strange noises are heard and eventually Jared finds the secret library of Arthur Spiderwick, long since disappeared.  He also finds The Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You.  Although he's warned not to mess with the book he does. He reads it completely, fascinated by the world it describes. But then that world is revealed to him when his brother Simon is carried off by goblins.

Various factions of the faerie realm want the Field Guide. The elves want to destroy the book so that so one holds power over them. The dwarves want the book so that they can have control and build a world of metal trees and animals.  The ogre Mulgarath just wants to control the world.

I'd recommend this book for no younger than fourth grade. There are some tense scenes and the faerie realm is sometimes not pretty. Goblins catch and roast cats.  There's one scene of a cow chained to the ground while baby dragons suckle it.

But these are magical stories and would appeal to anyone that likes such things.  I enjoyed the series.
It's continued in Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles.