Spiderwick Chronicles

The Spiderwick Chronicles : The Complete First Seriesby Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly BlackWhat a completely enjoyable story! I have to confess that ever since that first Spiderwick book came out I have been yearning for it. I never wanted to buy it because they went for about $15 a book and they were small enough that I'd be finished in a half an hour. You can imagine my excitement when I walked into my friend's bookstore and saw this particular treasure sitting on a cart waiting to be shelved!This little baby holds the first five books of the Spiderwick series : The Field Guide; The Seeing Stone; Lucinda's Secret; The Ironwood Tree; The Wrath of Mulgrath. Each book is as entertaining as the last and I really grew to love the characters... well, most of them.What thrilled me even more is that on EVERY page there is an illustration. Wheee! Yes, I really am I child at heart. Every few pages is a full page illustration depicting part of a scene (sort of like in those old Nancy Drew and Hard Boys books) but each individual page has some form of artwork on it. Most are of head shots of the characters being introduced so you have an idea of what they are supposed to look like (nifty, especially for the fey characters).I am itching to buy more of the books, but I am kind of hoping they'll end up in another omnibus (anthology?) like this one.And ohhhh! I have just fallen in love with the official Spiderwick webpage. I am such a child at times.  And per that site it doesn't look like there's really any more in the series - just a new one that's come out as of September - Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles. Hmm, I might have a long wait to buy one of those 5-in-1 books again. :)