The Spiderwick Chronicles
Written by Tony Diterlizzi
Reviewed by Samuel R. (age 9)
This book is about three children who have a magical life with one book. But the problem is how to keep this book in safe hands. Mallory, the oldest one, is a good sword fighter. No one can get past her. Jared, the smart one, can set up traps for monsters who are trying to get the book from them. And Simon, the wise-crack, just gets in trouble.
I like this book because it has cool monsters in it. My favorite part is when Mallory had a sword fighting tournament. The tournament was very exciting, and she won. After the tournament, she was kidnapped by dwarves. On one of the journeys, it was dangerous because the book was so evil that when they went to find out how to control the book, the trolls and monsters would always follow them. Mallory keeps them from getting the book. She fights them with a sword to keep them away. Mallory is my favorite character because she's so tough. I like the way she talks when she challenges her opponents. They need to get the book into the right hands, but they have to fight a lot of battles to get it there.
I recommend this book to people that like to have exciting journeys, and who like to go around looking for things in their neighborhood. I also think swordfighters would like this book.