The Spiderwick Chronicles Deluxe Collector's Trunk by Holly Black (2007, Hardcover)

My 9 year old daughter first discovered the Spiderwick Chronicles Series at her school library. She had never before been so excited about reading a book. She retained so much of the information and was able to describe interesting events that occured in the story so vividly. While searching for the first book in the 2nd series Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles we came across this wonderful boxed set. The boxed set includes all 5 books of the series. The Field Guide (#1), The Seeing Stone (#2), Lucinda's Secret (#3), The Ironwood Tree (#4), The Wrath of Mulgrath (#5). All Books are beautiful hardcover and approximately 7 X 5 inches. Included with this set is also a Notebook for Fantastical Observations which is a journal type book which has description and pictures of some of the creatures in the Spiderwick books with lots of pages and spaces for your child to draw pictures and write stories about their own invented creatures. The best part is that it gives really great prompts for each activity to really help get your childs imagination flowing. There are also a set of collectors cards with this set. The best part is this set all fits neatly into a sturdy corrugated chest which has a magnetic closure. This chest not only will keep the books together and neat but will also preserve the books nicely while keeping them dust free. This will be a treasured set for many years to come and even parents will enjoy perusing the volumes. It is a great way to connect as it is not always easy to find something in common as our children get older. There are monsters in these books therefore I would not reccommend them for children under age 8. The books do teach some wonderful values about families all sticking together and protecting one another. The main characters are an older sister named Mallory and twin boys, Jared and Simon. Each ones personality is very different and they learn to use each others strengths to help solve all the clues and defeat the monsters. I definitely give this series a thumbs up!!!