“The late bus dropped Jared Grace at the bottom of his street.”

From Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone.

Siblings Jared, Simon, and Mallory Grace are still trying to understand their discovery of both magical creatures and the fairy field guide that they discovered in their new home.  However, the children ignore the advice of their house brownie (Thimbletack) who urges them to destroy the powerful book that was never meant for humans, deciding instead to use the guide to see what magic they can discover.  When Simon is kidnapped by goblins living nearby, his twin brother and older sister are at a loss for how to rescue him until Thimbletack leads them to a seeing stone which allows humans to see faeriesXXX and other magical creatures (also called the Sight).  Mallory and Jared head off in search of Simon armed with Mallory’s fencing swords and the seeing stone; after a close encounter with a troll, they are finally able to locate the goblin prison, but they find much more than they were expecting.  Simon is not the goblins’ only prisoner, and the many other captives include an injured griffin and a hobgoblin named Hogsqueal; in exchange for his freedom, Hogsqueal agrees to give his spit (which can give humans Sight) to Jared and Mallory.  Now able to see the goblins and other creatures, the Grace children launch a dangerous plan to free Simon and the other prisoners, but if they aren’t careful, their choices will have unintended, life-threatening consequences.

The second book in the Spiderwick Chronicles series features the same magical adventure as the first, if not more.  DiTerlizzi and Black again create a captivating story through both words and pictures; the characters are unique and readers are able to connect more with the Grace children.  Another quick, but captivating read, The Seeing Stone is a not-to-be-missed fantasy adventure.