Spiderwick
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Spiderwick is a series of children's books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. The books chronicle the adventures of the Grace children, twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory, after they move into the eponymous Spiderwick Estate and discover a world of faeries that they never knew existed.
Since the publishing of the first novel, The Field Guide, in 2003, four more books in the series have been published, along with several accompanying books. A feature film adaptation, entitled The Spiderwick Chronicles, was produced by Nickelodeon Movies and premiered on February 14, 2008, and an accompanying video game was released in early February.
Contents |
[edit] Series
| The Field Guide | |
| Author | Holly Black Tony DiTerlizzi |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Children's literature, fantasy |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date | May 2003 |
| Pages | 128 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0689859366 |
[edit] The Field Guide
The first book in the series opens in New England, United States, where nine-year-old twins Jared and Simon and their thirteen-year-old sister Mallory move to the decrepit Spiderwick Estate with their mother, Helen. They discover a secret library hidden in the house, and in the library they find Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, a book full of information on faeries.
Several days later, while Jared, Simon and Mallory are in Uncle Arthur's study, a small man with a hat appears. The little man, named Thimbletack, is in fact the boggart that had been causing them all the trouble. He commands them to throw away the Field Guide or suffer a terrible fate.
| The Seeing Stone | |
| Author | Holly Black Tony DiTerlizzi |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Children's literature, fantasy |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date | May 2003 |
| Pages | 128 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0689859373 |
[edit] The Seeing Stone
After ignoring Thimbletack's warning, Simon is abducted by a group of invisible goblins. Thimbletack guides Jared to a seeing stone device created by his great-uncle which gives the ability to see faeries, called the Sight. Mallory and Jared go searching for him, narrowly escaping capture, and find the goblin camp. While rescuing Simon, the hobgoblin Hogsqueal convinces them to help him escape in exchange for his help in retrieving Simon. Hogsqueal spits in their eyes, giving them the Sight permanently. After rescuing Simon, they flee and lead the goblins to the [[troll where they meet their end. They rescue the rest of the goblin's victims and take an injured griffin back to their house.
| Lucinda's Secret | |
| Author | Holly Black Tony DiTerlizzi |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Genre(s) | Children's literature, fantasy |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date | 1 October 2003 |
| Pages | 128 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0689859380 |
[edit] Lucinda's Secret
The Grace children visit their Great-Aunt Lucinda, who is now in a psychiatric hospital. When they speak to her, they learn more about the world of faerie creatures, the Field Guide, and its author, Arthur Spiderwick, who was Aunt Lucinda's father. Arthur had disappeared when Lucinda was still a little girl and the Grace children later find out where he disappeared to when they stumble upon a forest of elves. On their journey they meet Stray-Sods, grass that can move, and a Phooka, a strange creature that talks only in riddles. Jared is captured by the elves, but tricks them into making a pact so that Simon will be trapped instead of him. They all manage to escape, but only by promising them that they will bring the field guide to them when it is found.
| The Ironwood Tree | |
| Author | Holly Black Tony DiTerlizzi |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Genre(s) | Children's literature, fantasy |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date | 6 April 2004 |
| Pages | 108 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0689859397 |
[edit] The Ironwood Tree
The family attends Mallory's fencing contest at school. During the contest, Jared finds a boy identical to him going through Mallory's bag. He transforms into a smaller kid when Jared attempts to scare him with his knife. When Jared and Simon discover that Mallory has disappeared, they search for her in an abandoned quarry, but wind up being kept prisoner by dwarves. Mallory is revealed to be sleeping in a glass-coffin dressed in medieval garb, with the dwarves saying she is now immortal. Escaping their cage, the twins free Mallory and meet a strange creature, called a Knocker, who tells them the way out by speaking to the stones. They next see a huge metal tree, made by the dwarves, which is called the Ironwood Tree. After a narrow escape from the dwarves' mechanical dogs, they make their way out of the tunnel but have to hide before leaving. They secretly watch Mulgarath, a hideous ogre who wants to rule the world, callously order the death of the dwarves for having been tricked into not getting the Field Guide from Jared. The dwarves are mauled to death by thegGoblins and Mulgarath reveals that he had the guide the whole time. The siblings escape just after Mulgarath disappears into the rock.
| The Wrath of Mulgurath | |
| Author | Holly Black Tony DiTerlizzi |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Genre(s) | Children's literature, fantasy |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date | 7 September 2004 |
| Pages | 160 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0689859403 |
[edit] The Wrath of Mulgurath
The Grace children return from the quarry to the Spiderwick estate, only to find the house in ruins and their mother gone. Hogsqueal the hobgoblin informs them that the house was destroyed by the goblins who have kidnapped their mother and taken her to the palace of their fearsome master, Mulgarath the ogre. Accompanied by Hogsqueal, the siblings journey to Mulgarath's palace, an immense citadel made of garbage where they battle a legion of goblins. Mallory runs the leader through with her sword and is greatly traumatised by having actually killed a living sentient being. Nevertheless she and her brothers defeat the goblins and discover Mulgarath's plan. The ogre has learned from the Field Guide that fresh cows milk makes young dragons rapidly mature. He has stolen a number of cows and is using them to breed an army of dragons with which he plans to conquer the world. Jared successfully vanquishes the mother dragon and Simon kills the young. Infiltrating the palace, they find their mother and father tied up. They release their father, but discover that he is actually Mulgarath in disguise. The ogre brags of his plan and reveals that the Field Guide is underneath his throne. Jared mockingly tells Mulgarath that he and his siblings have killed the dragons. In a rage, Mulgarath flings Simon and Mallory out of the window but they grab onto chains and don't fall. Jared stabs Mulgarath in the foot with Mallory's sword, then knocks him out of the window. When Mulgurath falls and transforms into a swallow he is eaten by Hogsqueal.
The children return home, where they meet Arthur Spiderwick, who had been living with the elves and so had not aged. He and his daughter Lucinda, now an old woman, share a poignant goodbye, and then he turns to dust. With Mulgarath defeated, the Grace family is presumably now free to live happily ever after.
[edit] Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles
- The Nixie's Song: Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, September 18, 2007
- A Giant Problem: Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, September 16, 2008
[edit] Accompanying books
- Arthur Spiderwick's Notebook for Fantastical Observations, June 2005
- Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, November 2005
- The Spiderwick Chronicles: Care and Feeding of Sprites, December 26, 2006
- The Chronicles of Spiderwick: A Grand Tour of the Enchanted World, Navigated by Thimbletack, November 13, 2007
[edit] Characters
- Jared Grace – The main character, from whose point of view the books are written. Simon is his identical twin, though Jared is much more short-tempered and adventurous.
- Simon Grace – Jared's identical twin brother. He is calm and caring; he particularly loves animals, and has several pets.
- Mallory Grace – Jared and Simon's older sister, who is a fencer, a skill which comes in handy when defending herself.
[edit] Faeries
In the Spiderwick universe, faeries are normally invisible to humans, who are generally not aware of their presence. However, some humans have the ability to see faeries, commonly called the 'Sight'. A small percentage of humans have this ability naturally; for example, the seventh son of a seventh son or a person with red hair. It can also be obtained through the rock with a hole through the middle. In the series, the Grace children receive the 'sight' when Hogsqueal, a hobgoblin, spits in their eyes.
The species of faeries in the series include brownies, boggarts, goblins, sprites, and elves, among many others.
[edit] Movie
A feature film adaptation of the series was released by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies on February 14, 2008. Directed by Mark Waters, it starred Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Martin Short, Nick Nolte, and Seth Rogen. It followed the basic overall plot of the five novels in the Spiderwick Chronicles series, but left out the majority of the plot from the fourth book and contained several other minor differences.
The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. With the opening day's gross on Thursday included, it grossed an estimated $21.3 million on its opening weekend.[1]
[edit] Video game
Sierra Entertainment enlisted Stormfront Studios to develop and produce a video game adaptation of the Spiderwick Chronicles.[2] It was released, shortly before the film's premiere, on February 5, 2008 for Nintendo DS, Wii, PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 2, and is rated Everyone (E10+) by the ESRB.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Brendan Sinclair (2007-08-09). Sierra snares Spiderwick Chronicles. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.
- ^ http://www.spiderwickgame.com
[edit] External links
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