The Seeing Stone: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 2
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that if your child is prone to nightmares you should preview this one -- it's exciting, but with a rough edge. The first in the series is tamer. Though it might be a bit scary for younger children (among other things a cat is roasted and eaten, and a goblin's arm is bitten off by the griffin, though none of this is described), older elementary-aged children, especially reluctant readers, are going to eat this up.
Families can talk about what was scarier in this book than the first. Do you like the action or the fantasy characters better?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
If the first book in the series (The Field Guide) was mostly introduction, this one jumps right into the action. And there's an edge to it that the first book, concerned mainly with laying out the premises of the series and placating an annoyed boggart, only hinted at.
Here Simon is in danger of being eaten by goblins, and the only way to rescue him is to kill his abductors, though the children don't do this themselves. Though the story is faster paced and more exciting than the first book, it offers some of the same pleasures -- a short, easy-to-read fantasy adventure in an old-fashioned edition filled with illustrations and printed on soft, unevenly cut paper.
From The Book
Something began to surface behind her. At first it seemed like a hill rising from the water, stony and covered in moss. Then a head emerged, the deep green of rotten river grass, with small black eyes, a nose that was gnarled like a branch, and a mouth full of cracked teeth. A hand reached toward them. Its fingers were as long as roots, and its nails were black with murk. Jared breathed in the stench of the bottom of the pool, putrid leaves and old, old mud.
Plot Summary:
"You kept the book despite my advice. Sooner or later there'll be a price." The price comes quickly in the second book in The Spiderwick Chronicles. Simon is kidnapped by invisible goblins. His twin brother Jared and older sister Mallory set out to rescue him, armed with rapiers from Mallory's fencing class and a stone monocle that lets the wearer see the invisible.
With the monocle, the faerie world, which so far they have mostly only read about in Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, comes to life, and it's no fairyland. Into the darkening woods Jared and Mallory go, encountering sprites and a troll along the way.
But rescuing Simon is only the beginning of their adventures, as they discover the goblins holding many creatures prisoner, including a dying griffin and a hobgoblin with a fondness for cats ("and not just 'cause they're tasty, which they are, no mistake.").
Related Books:
More in the Series:
The Field Guide
Lucinda's Secret
The Ironwood Tree
The Wrath of Mulgarath
Books with Similar Themes:
No Flying in the House
Midnight Magic
The Gold Dust Letters
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ViolenceA goblin's arm is bitten off, and a cat is roasted and eaten, neither described. Simon's life is in danger, the children are threatened by a troll and the goblins. |
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Social BehaviorThe hobgoblin urinates on the fire to taunt the goblins. |
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