Earlier I reviewed the first book in the Spiderwick Chronicles, The Field Guide, by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. The second book, The Seeing Stone, is also a very small volume, something like 20,000 words, with whimsical illustrations and a cinematic future.

In the first book, we meet the Grace siblings (Jared, Simon, and Mallory) who have just moved to a decrepit old Victorian house in the middle of nowhere. Their parents are recently divorced and the kids are not particularly happy with the move. In the second book, they’ve settled in a bit (Mallory has found a new fencing team), and now the Field Guide to the creatures of Faerie that they found in the first book is causing them problems. Again, they must solve them in a hundred pages, and meet new and fantastic creatures along the way.

These books are very cute. The packaging is cute; the fake letters included in the beginning are cute; the illustrations are cute; the characters are cute. Again, they’re written on a fourth- or fifth-grade reading level; also, again, if you’re an adult, I’d recommend reading all five at once. The differences between this book and the first book are not huge; the writing style is much the same and the characters are still a little flat. Mallory still likes to hit things. Jared is anti-social. Simon loves animals. In this book, it’s Simon’s love of animals that gets them into trouble, but does net them a new and interesting pet by the end. The plot was, to me, a little less obvious, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise ending.

I’ve been told that these books are invaluable for younger or lower-level readers who really need the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a book. (That would also be very important if you’re trying to make a quota.) I also think they’re a good introduction to certain aspects of fantasy fiction that might require a stronger ability to suspend disbelief. They’re ‘urban’ fantasy, in the sense that they’re set in this world/reality, so there’s no new world to keep track of and remember. The fantastic elements range between beautiful and gruesome, such as mentions of the Tooth Fairy and a griffin, all the way to goblins who eat cats. (That’s a warning, in case you’re squicked by violence against cats.) In addition to the fantastical creatures, readers are introduced to certain rules of fantasy, like the Seeing Stone itself (a stone with a hole in it) or, more generally, that you aren’t going to get help in Faerie unless you bargain for it. They’re generally a good introduction into fantastic fiction, for readers who maybe aren’t quite ready for Harry Potter yet, and overall. This one also gets 4/5 stars.