Search - The Field Guide (Spiderwick Chronicles, Bk 1)

Children's fantasy about 3 kids who move into their great-aunt's old house with their mother and discover a secret room, a riddle that leads to a book and "something in the walls" that turns out to be something not quite of this world and seems determined to get them in trouble. A bit 'young' for my taste--I read it in less than an hour--but still an enjoyable tale.

In this book we are introduced to the Grace children, the twins, Jared and Simon, who are very different from each other, and their older sister, Mallory. Simon loves animals and has many pets, Mallory enjoys fencing, and Jared, well, he gets into trouble, especially since his parents divorced. After moving into their great-aunt Lucinda's house, strange things begin to happen to the Grace children. Jared discovers a dumb waiter leading to a secret library filled with weird books and riddles where he finds 'Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World around You,' from which he learns about boggarts and other creatures. The Grace children meet a boggart named Thimbletack who warns them to get rid of the book. Is he a friend or foe? I enjoyed this book, a great beginning to a fantastic story. Lemony Snicket fans will surely enjoy this series.

This is book 1 of 5 of the New York Times best-selling serial.

I enjoyed reading this book to my kids. They enjoyed listening and we all enjoyed the beautiful illustrations. It was a very simple read and didn't take us long at all to finish. It doesn't stand on it's own, so you'll have to get 2-5 as well (which are just as great).
It's about 3 children - Jared, Simon & Mallory who move into a house, with their mom, that is falling apart. The house belongs to their Aunt Lucinda who is in a mental institution. They explore the old house and find a room that doesn't seem to have a door. The only way they can enter it is through the dumb waiter. In that room Jared finds a Field Guide. Inside the field guide is illustrations and facts on creatures we believe to be fantasy. They find out that they are actually real and live in our own world. We just don't have the secrets on how to see them properly. The creatures in the fantasy world do not want human hands on this book. They don't want us to know their secrets in fear of what we might do. All of them are out to get Jared and his family and retrieve the book. Can the kids make it through this mess? Read on to find out!

Great children fantasy series. I hope to collect the entire series & share with grandchildren someday.

A pretty good read, you have to read them all in order to get the gist of it, though. The idea that the fantasy world is A LOT closer than you think makes it a piece of genuine fantasy. I'd say ages 10 and up.