WIR: Spiderwick Chronicles

From time to time, you’ll see a post that starts with WIR. That simply stands for “What I’m Reading.” As a writer, I find one of the best ways to stimulate my brain is by reading widely. These posts will be an opportunity for thoughts on content, style, and method. It’s way more for me than for you, but I’ve got to have something to put up here, right?

The Spiderwick Chronicles

In the interest of full disclosure, at the time I’m writing this, I’ve read the first three books of The Spiderwick Chronicles. The final two books are in the house, waiting for me.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a clever little series of books that tell one story in five parts. They are very definitely aimed at younger readers — Amazon.com notes that the target audience is ages 9-12. What is a grown man doing reading books intended for 9-12 year olds? What a great question.

First of all, I’m trying to establish exactly what the young adult (YA) audience is reading now and whether or not I should aim for that audience.

Secondly, and more importantly, a frequent discussion around the Mackay household revolves around at what age The Lord of the Rings will become appropriate for our child. He’s only thirteen months old, so I guess we have a while to figure it out. However, it raises a lot of questions for both my wife and me. We were both heavily impacted by a love for reading in our childhood. We also both read books that were probably over our heads at times.

Realizing that each child is different, and that our little guy may not even like reading (what will we do then? Put him in sports? ), nevertheless, we have broad discussions of themes that are “too old for a ten-year-old” and things that are appropriate.

This brings me back to Spiderwick. This little set of novels feels very much like an introduction to the Fantasy Genre. Magical creatures, strange sounds in the walls, “more than meets the eye” in a non-transformers sort of way, the hallmarks of the genre are all here. What’s so intriguing about it for me is that the authors do it in a very non-sinister way. I haven’t yet got the feeling that the authors were out to give their intended audience nightmares.

They’re quick reads too. There are certainly some themes present that a parent would want to talk to their children about (divorce, the way the Grace siblings handle their parents’ divorce, fighting at school, siblings fighting, parents not believing their children, etc.) but what strikes me even as I tick those off in my head is that they are very human themes. The goblins and faeries and sprites and trolls all seem to be presented in an age appropriate way.

Just thinking these things through has been helpful for me as I try to establish both the audience I’d like to write for and the ability to write to that audience without talking down to them or flying over their heads.

Bottom line, like anything else, if you’re a parent looking for something for your children to read, read ahead of them. But, give the first book in The Spiderwick Chronicles a glance. It shouldn’t take you long to get through it.