The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DeTerlizzi and Holly Black is a story of a broken family who moves from New York to live with Aunt Lucinda in an old mansion. The main characters are 9 year old twins Jared and Simon, the former being more troubled and unable to cope with the divorce of his parents, and Mallory the big sister who is 11. Jared is mad to be made to relocate and finds the new home creepy. The children complain about hearing a "squirrel" in the wall and set out to rid the home of the pest. They find a nest and get rid of it only to find out, the next day, that many pranks have been played on them during the night. Everyone blames Jared, but he sets out to find the real culprit and discovers the field guide which introduces him to the unseen fantastical world.

The characters in this book have good dynamics between each other. Although completely different they are complimentary, which made for good story progression. The underlying theme of the fairy world was fun to discover with Jared and made for continued interest throughout the book. Although I tend to despise characters who are persistent troublemakers, especially when they admit that they know better, I found myself wanting Jared to succeed and clear his name.