Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Spiderwick Chronicles: Book Two - The Seeing Stone
Illustrator: Tony DiTerlizzi
Fiction Series
For ages 7 to 10
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003 ISBN: 978-0689859373
When we left Jared, Simon and Mallory Grace in Book One of the Spiderwick Chronicles, they were just beginning to adjust to their new life on the Spiderwick Estate. Going to a new school is always hard and Jared is having a particularly hard time of it. Also when we left them in Book One they were just starting to realize the possible full potential of Arthur Spiderwick?s "Field guide to the Fantastical World Around You."
The strange happenings in the old Spiderwick house seem to have calmed down. This rather dull state of affairs continues until Simon goes to look for his missing cat. While Simon is looking about he is sized by some invisible assailants. Jared is witness to his twin?s abduction and doesn?t know what to do about this terrible state of affairs. Thankfully for Simon, Thimbletack the Brownie does. What Simon needs is a special tool to help him fight these invisible enemies. Thimbletack calls the tool "the seeing stone." What follows is a remarkable adventure which leaves one alternately breathless, horrified and worried.
This is not for the faint of heart, for goblins are about and they have horrible ways and disgusting tastes. Jared and Mallory have to rescue their brother and at the same time they have to dodge all sorts of horrible creatures. They also find themselves making strange alliances and helping others in need besides their brother. Who would have thought that three perfectly ordinary children would be called upon to do so much for so many.
We are left, as before at the end of Book One, hanging, and wondering what these three brave, kind, and yet also very human children are going to do next. With a plot full of twists and turns and wonderful illustrations, this is a book that will hook any reader or listener to a bizarre world that exists within our world, a remarkable creation of the author's imagination.
