Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

The Spiderwick Chronicles - Companion Books

by Tony DiTerlizzi, Holly Black

Discover the Field Guide that started it all in this lavishly illustrated guide to the world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Spiderwick series—now with refreshed art and updated backmatter!

In the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Spiderwick Chronicles, readers were enthralled by the account of siblings Jared, Simon, and Mallory Grace, as they battled dwarves, goblins, elves, and a diabolical ogre in their efforts to hold on to their great-great uncle Arthur Spiderwick’s life work—now collected in one volume!

Beginning with a thoughtful and informative introduction, progressing through six detailed sections featuring thirty-one faerie species, and culminating with an addendum that includes observations supplied by Jared Grace, this classic compendium to the worldwide Spiderwick phenomenon delivers enough information to satisfy even the most demanding faerie enthusiast. Not only will readers learn the habits and habitats of the fourteen fantastical beings featured in the bestselling chapter books, but they will be delighted and astonished by an additional seventeen creatures. Also included are dozens of snippets from Arthur Spiderwick’s personal journal as well as cameos from a few series favorites.

In this refreshed edition, the restored art is more vibrant than ever, and there is additional content newly discovered from Arthur Spiderwick’s archives, featuring creatures from books six through eight!

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Art, Magic, Picture Books

142 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, Tony DiTerlizzi, has been creating children’s books for twenty years. From fanciful picture books like The Broken Ornament and The Spider & The Fly (a Caldecott Honor book), to chapter books like Kenny and The Dragon and The Search for WondLa, DiTerlizzi imbues his stories with rich imagination. With Holly Black, he created the middle-grade series, The Spiderwick Chronicles, which has sold over 20 million copies, been adapted into a feature film, and translated in over thirty countries. He teamed up with Lucasfilm to retell the original Star Wars trilogy as a picture book and his collaboration with celebrated author Mo Willems created the bestseller The Story of Diva & Flea. The Norman Rockwell museum’s retrospective, “Never Abandon Imagination”, featured artwork from the beginning of DiTerlizzi’s career as a contributing artist for Dungeons & Dragons and broke attendance records. He has been featured in Time magazine, USA Today, CNN, PBS, NPR the BBC and The Today Show.

Reviews

[freddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 nostalgia-filled stars.

I said this in my first reading update, but this book is what made me want to start drawing when I was a kid. The illustrations are all gorgeous and I fell in love not only with the idea of being able to draw like that myself one day, but also with all of the folklore within. This one's always gonna have a special place in my heart tbh.

[Spens (Sphynx Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated and intriguing collection. I wish it was thicker than it was, but the beauty of the Spiderwick books is that much is left to the imagination, and the parts that we are aware of provide enough mystery for us to wonder.

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

It had lots of pictures. My kind of book.

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, the Arthur Spiderwick Field guide, is lovingly restored and organized by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. The creatures from the fantastical world around us have been organized by habitat and then alphabetically. It has 28 plates and hundreds of illustrations, with fold-out pages and flip-up pages for even larger illustrations. Each creature's main illustrations list its scale. With lots of side notes and addendums, this is a wonderful book that the young and young at heart can return to many times.


The sections are:
Around the House and Yard:
Brownies
Boggarts
Changelings
Pixies
Salamanders
Stray Sod

In Fields and Forests:
Cockatrices
Elves
Leprechauns
Manticores
Sprites
Treefolk
Unicorns

In Lakes, Streams and the Sea:
Kelpies
Merfolk
Nixies
Sea Serpents
Trolls

In the Hills and Mountains:
Dwarves
Giants
Goblins
Hobgoblins
Knockers
Ogres

In the Sky:
Dragons
Griffins
Phoenixes

Outside at Night:
Banshees
Gargoyles
Phookas
Will-o-the-Wisps

This illustrated guide is amazing. I know that I will read it again, and plan on reading it to my children many times over the next few years.

Read the review and with links to other reviews of books by the authors on my blog Book Reviews and More.

[Lenno Vranken · Rating 5 out of 5]

In one word: 'beautiful'.

I'm thankful little pieces of magic like this still exist in the world.
Wish I would have had this book when I was a kid. A younger version of me would have been thrilled beyond believe to own a treassure like this. Afcourse, the older version of me enjoys this treassure all the same :)

Glad that this is my first five-star review of 2023!

[Chantal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are all gorgeous and I fell in love with this book. It had lots of pictures and is easy to read. Good follow up of the books.

[jagodasbooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okeyyy

[Miranda Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't really go wrong with the OG field guide. I read this one years ago - before I even knew about the series - and rereading it today? I still love it.

[Hobbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read the first of the chronicles but this book is wonderful, such amazing images and witty descriptions. it's the kind of book I'd have poured over for hours as a child. and one I'll definately be having in my class.
it's a great book to use for inspiration for all sorts of character creation activities in literacy.

I have grand ideas of reading the books as read aloud books, whilst looking at the topic of myths and legends and then linking it all to a nice activity of getting the children to create their own field guide of mythical creatures.
I can imagine reading the books and then at the end all 5, bringing out this guide as a culmination and intro to the activity.

[ocean ☆ (jacks’s version 🍎)]

I literally know this book cover to cover, I studied this thing more than I’ve ever studied anything and it brings back good memories (I can still recite Faerie facts because of it)

[Talon Shuffler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book forever. Such a big part of my childhood that grew my love for reading and wonder. The art and lore of fairies is just such top tier and to accompany the book series as a guide that is presented as “real” is just so cool I will never get rid of this book.

[Davienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was beautiful. It was beautifully writing and had gorgeous artwork in it. Very well written, enjoyed the scientific way it was presented. The parts that were printed in Arthur's hand writing were difficult to read at first but by the end of the book I had no trouble with it. I enjoyed this book immensely. It was informative by itself and it gave more insight to the creatures from The Spiderwick Chronicles. It was nice to learn more about the creatures we encountered there. I just loved this book.

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tutto quel che si può desiderare da una guida alle creature fantastiche.
Disegni eccezionali, curiosità e stravaganze completano quell'universo che ho adorato nelle Cronache di Spiderwick.
Ovviamente non si può non essere affascinati da questo libro, soprattutto a una certa età.

[stefania · Rating 5 out of 5]

the art is amazing.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

illustrations saved my life thanks

[Rick Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a companion book to the Spiderwick Chronicles novel series by DiTerlizzi and Black, with a few references to the stories, including an addendum by one of the main characters.

But primarily, this stands on its own as a gorgeous interpretation of the natural history of faerie and mythical creatures from elves to sea serpents to sprites and boggarts. DiTerlizzi's illustrations are lovely, and there are some very clever details. His merfolk were among my favorites, with their "hair" serving as gill filaments. There is a good mix of original ideas and traditional folklore in the descriptions, and some nice hints of stories to be discovered.

This would serve as an excellent roleplaying supplement for a GM who enjoys homebrewing creature stats, and it is an entertaining and inspiring read on its own.

[Kerstin Rosero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so enamored with this book, and I had no idea it existed. As a dragon-dabblin' artist, especially of the fantastical beast variety, I would say this is definitely in the top 5% of illustrated books and fantasy field guides I have ever read. It is charming. The illustrations, typography, design, and overall aesthetic are incredible. Very fun, very inspiring. I have never read the Spiderwick Chronicles, but this is currently the most beautiful book I own.

While the art is the first thing that sold me, the text is also hilarious. Now I can just blame my (non- or non)sense of direction on having stepped on a stray sod, but constantly.

Would definitely recommend!

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't claim that the writing in this bountifully illustrated large book is anything special, though it has its moments here and there, but the volume shines through the aforementioned illustrations.

They are interesting mainly through their unique take of combining fairies and other magical folk with insects, plant life and animals...making fairies seem a bit more like an offshoot of biological beings rather than unbelievable magical creatures unrelated to the natural world.

For those who enjoy good quality fantasy illustrations, this book is for you!

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

honestly really beautiful but also it still makes it feel so much for the creator of the guide

[Rick Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems to be a Spiderwick -centric upgrade of the book, Faeries and is a nice improvement thanks to the writing and artwork.

[Allie LF]

Absolutely adorable and well-researched with beautiful illustrations!

[Michael K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still have this book from when I was a kid. It's probably the main reason I wanted to do art in any capacity.

I'm so glad I still have it. I bought the Spiderwick books for my son and I to read, and when I pulled this guy out of my bookshelf to back up the text. Blew. His. Mind. Really fun reminiscence.

[Lokita · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like the whimsical, pseudo-naturalist fairies of the Spiderwick Chronicles, you'll love the gorgeous illustrations in this book. I almost enjoyed this more than the actual series.

[Elo · Rating 5 out of 5]

tout simplement une perle d'imagination (avec des illustrations à couper le souffle). si j'avais possédé ce livre plus jeune j'aurais été infiniment plus cool plus tard dans la vie

[Tigress · Rating 5 out of 5]

PRE-READ:















































READ: What can I tell you? It's beautiful, unique, creative, stunning, imaginative, enchanting... If the above pictures don't convince you to read it, nothing will.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting book, but I didn't like the font they used for the man's handwriting. It was difficult to read. On top of that, it was brown on a beige page. I got about 61% through before I decided to stop trying to read the handwriting font.

It would be quite interesting if someone came across this bok a few hundred or a few thousand years in the future (supposing copies still exist), and believed it was real instead of being based on a fiction fantasy book and movie.

[Joseph Brink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has gorgeous artwork and is a great companion book to the Spiderwick Chronicles. I didn't read every last thing, because there is a lot of text, but I did enjoy studying the pictures.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love Tony DiTerlizzi's illustrations, even as a teenager I find them wonderfully breathtaking and glorious. I cannot imagine what I would have thought of them as a child, I probably would have been completely flabbergasted. The creatures in this book are very interesting and you can't help but be sucked into this book, completely forgetting where you are, but instead, being immersed in this world, with all sorts of thoughts running around your head. This book was inspiring, it made me want to write stories featuring the characters I had just been introduced to. A lovely book that I'd definitely recommend.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...

[NarcissusTea · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A gorgeous book, and fantastic companion to The Spiderwick Chronicles. It's a bit of a misnomer to call it a companion, though, as this is the book that started it all (even if it was published afterwards). The novels are more like an introduction for this book![return][return]I love that it's not only a bestiary (with beautiful illustrations), but that the beasts described within are somewhat unusual. Yes, there is a unicorn, but it doesn't exactly look like a horse with a horn on its head. Only the sprites are even close to resembling the sanitized fairies we've convinced ourselves are harmless and even benevolent.[return][return]Study this guide not so that you can go looking for these creatures, but so that you can be sure to steer clear. Fairies are trouble!"

[Alberto]

Really informative! One of the best books about magical creatures I've ever found. There are never many good ones. I really admire and respect Arthur Spiderwick for his research and the risks he took.
The page about changelings was particularly interesting. I think it might explain some things about my brother. How can I find out more? The last book I managed to find about a changeling was only about a girl and her boyfriend.