Discovering the Spiderwick Chronicles

Discovering the Spiderwick ChroniclesA Story of a Boy Named Garret

By: Garret R. Corbett3/3/2013

It all started on just an old normal fifth grade school day. There was a little boy sitting in his seat wondering what he could do to make this boring day become an extraordinary day. This little boy's name was Garret Corbett. Garret was a fifth grader at Fairview Elementary school in Monroe North Carolina. After a long day of normal boring schoolwork that every fifth grader does Garret had an idea. His grand idea was that he should go to the Library.

Garret always loved going to the library at his schools. Ever since he was old enough to read the covers of the books at the library he enjoyed visiting the magical place. What made the library so magical for Garret was the amazing book fairs that they would have twice a year. There were books, posters, pencils, small stuffed animals, and almost anything else you could think of that would be at a book fair.

Even though it was the book fairs that made Garret absolutely fall in love with the school libraries, on this special day, there was not a book fair going on. It may have just been a normal school day but, when Garret gets an idea, he sticks it out and sees that idea through completion. He went up to the teacher and requested a *TICKET OF FREEDOM*, which actually was just a library pass from the teacher to escape the boring class he was currently stuck in. With this ticket Garret was out the door and on his way to the magical world of books.

Upon arrival to the library, the little fifth grader realized that he had no clue what he was looking for. Once he had this realization, he figured that he should just walk up and down the aisle until he figured out why he was there in the first place. Up an aisle, down an aisle, up an aisle, down an aisle. Garret was weaving through the aisles of the library looking for anything that would peak his interests. As he would walk through the aisle he would carefully read the book titles while brush his hand along their spines. Occasionally he would even pull a book off the shelf to closer inspect its cover. This went on for about ten minutes without any luck whatsoever.

Just as he was about to quit and head back to class, he saw them, the reason that he was summoned to the library in the first place. Right in front of him sat five books. These five books were the coolest. The covers consisted of amazing artwork forcing Garret to stop in awe and wonder what the pages inside could consist of. Every book in the series was a different color.

The first blue, then red, then gold, green, and the last one was a dark blue. They all also had amazing artwork on the covers. Most of them showcased one of the three main children of the story but, the last one had a huge ogre on the front that really got Garrets attention. Lastly, on the front of every cover, written in huge curly letters, almost as if in a Gothic style font, was the huge word The five breathtakingly captivating books that Garret had found that day in the library were called, The Spiderwick Chronicles.

As soon as he first saw these books Garret was mesmerized and knew that he had to read them. He grabbed the first one in the series, The Field Guide, then quickly went to the front desk to declare ownership of this amazing object for the week. After checking out the book he rushed back to class as fast as he could to see what these magnificent pages had to say. Once back to class he instantly opened the book and was awestruck by the beautiful and interesting pictures that this amazing book was hiding inside. He saw the family of the three children and their single mother, Jared and Simon the two twins who could not be more different, their older sister Malory who was just trying to do her own thing, and their mother Helen with her hands full as a single mom trying to move into a new house. He could see the house in great detail, which was actually an old family estate that was given to them since their aunt was put into an old person’s home. The estate was an enormous mansion with a large entryway, a tall elaborate frame, and many windows. It was right then that Garret knew. He knew that this series was going to be great and had somehow called him to the library that day. He needed to read these books.

Just as he opened the first page and went to start to read, the teacher, who Garret believed was there for the sole reason of making his life more annoying and complicated, said that it was time for class work and that everyone must put up what they were doing. Garret knew this week’s topic was his least favorite subject, geography, so had a small internal fit then put the book up like he was asked to do. After what felt like hours of rather easy but exhausting class work the bell finally rang releasing Garret from the grips of his distracting teacher and allowing him to head home for the day. He rushed to the bus, making sure that he would be one of the first ones there, and plopped himself down in the back seat of this overly large taxi, as far away from everyone else as possible.

As soon as he got on the bus he could already tell his fellow students were going to be especially annoying today. They would always come ask Garret a lot of random questions, “What did you do today? Do you think I will get dropped off first today? Who is that new kid? What's for lunch tomorrow,” throw things while on the bus, and be very loud. He was determined to read his new book though. Once the yellow transporter had started moving and Garret had successfully brushed off all of the other distractions, he opened his book bag reached his hand in and slowly removed the first book of his new love, The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Garret quickly opened the book to the first page and began to read. He was caught. Caught by the characters, caught by the struggles they were having, and caught by a need to know what would happen next. The three main characters were Jared, Simon, and their older sister Mallory. They, along with their mom, were moving to brand new houses that use to be owned by aunt. This huge house was the Spiderwick Estate. While at this Estate, Jared the troublemaker finds a field guide that explains this amazing world all around us that we just cannot see. This is what causes many struggles for the children and always kept me wondering what would happen next.

After what only felt like a few seconds to him, Garret heard something. He looked up and realized that everyone on the bus was calling his name. The bus driver had already made it to his house. Garret was amazed. His bus ride normally takes about twenty minutes. Today the bus ride only took about two. He jumped off the bus and ran up his driveway to his house leaving his poor little sister behind to get the mail. She really did not mind though since it was her day to get the mail anyway.

Garret threw down his backpack and looked around for a place where he would escape into the world that the book had created for him. At first he thought of his bedroom. From experience though he knew that there was way too many things there designed to distract him. Had he gone there he would quickly end up on his computer or Playstation. He needed a nice small place that he could just lay down and read without having to worry about anyone or anything. After a few more seconds of pondering it came to him, his parent's bathroom closet. Garret grabbed the book and was off. He lay down on his stomach on the thick, comfortable, soft carpet, opened the book, and then he jumped into the magic world that he had discovered only a few hours ago.

Garret read and read and read. After about an hour or two he flipped the last page. He was hooked. The book had introduced him into a whole new world of fairies, goblins, and griffons. The book had totally surprised him in every way possible. Garret knew that he had found his new favorite series and could not wait for the next day of school to arrive so that he could continue the amazing story.

Over the next few days Garret read every single one of the books in the series.

His days were full of adventure and his nights full of extraordinary dreams. The Spiderwick Chronicles had given Garret a lot more than a story. The five life changing books gave him wonders, dreams, and imagination. Everywhere Garret looked he felt as if he could almost see the amazing creatures he had been introduced to in the book. He wished for them to be real so that he could experience all of the things that the kids did in the book. He will never forget the amazing world that the books introduced him to and he will always be thankful for going to the library on that, what he thought would be just a normal and boring, elementary school day.

After that fifth grade year Garret went on to read many more stories that sparked his interests and fueled his imagination. Such as Eragon, The Supernaturalist, and The Sword of Truth book series. With every book that Garret read, he became more and more captivated by the many different and extraordinary worlds. All of these fascinating worlds that he could now go visit in his mind. Garret was able to learn about adventure, honor, responsibility, power, and many other important life lessons all from reading these books. Had it not been for the Spiderwick Chronicles, none of this would have been possible. Garret would not be the person he is today... I would not have the literacy that I have today!

Special thanks to the following links for

providing me with all of the amazing images to make

this digital narrative possible:

http://diterlizzi.com/home/wp-content/gallery/swickfilm/sw-01003.jpg

http://www.pacificwestflooring.com/

http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/promos/a-plus/spiderwick.manticores.jpg

http://www.toondoo.com/

http://kidstvmovies.about.com/od/thespiderwickchronicles/ig/Spiderwick-Chronicles---Photos/A-New-Home.htm

http://thebookslooth.blogspot.com/2009/12/spiderwick-chronicles-by-holly-black.html

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/4696

http://librarygarden.net/2009/12/04/book-fairs-and-bookmobiles-inspire-the-reading-spirit/

I would also like to give special thanks to Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black,

the authors of The Spidewerick Chronicles series.

Without them I would not be who I am today.