Sonderbooks Book Review of The Wrath of Mulgarath

Reviewed February 5, 2005.
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York, 2004. 139 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF DIT).

They did it! Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black spun a satisfying conclusion to their Spiderwick Chronicles series.

My reaction to each of these books has been, “That’s all?”, simply because I’m not used to fantasy stories being so short. However, that very quality of packing a lot into a small number of words makes these books perfect for reluctant readers who don’t want to tackle a tome like Harry Potter. (And several parents at the library have told us that their kids are reading these books more avidly than they’ve ever read books before. Bravo!)

The authors pack a lot of action into a small space. I liked this book best of all the series, because everything comes together. The evil ogre Mulgarath has kidnapped an important person in their lives and plans to take over the world. The children must use the things they’ve learned and the creatures from faerie they’ve befriended in order to stop Mulgarath.

This exciting series will have kids wondering if there is more to the world around them than meets the eye.

Reviews of the other Spiderwick Chronicles:
The Field Guide
The Seeing Stone
Lucinda's Secret
The Ironwood Tree

Reviews of other books by Tony DiTerlizzi:
The Search for WondLa
A Hero for WondLa

Reviews of books illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi:
The Spider and the Fly
The Story of Diva and Flea

Reviews of more books by Holly Black:
Doll Bones
White Cat
White Cat audiobook
Red Glove
Black Heart
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Zombies vs. Unicorns
The Cruel Prince
The Wicked King
The Queen of Nothing
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
The Stolen Heir
The Prisoner's Throne

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

****The Wrath of Mulgarath*

The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 5

by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black