Product Description

First a pack of vile, smelly goblins snatch Simon. Then a band of elves try to entrap Jared. Why is the entire faerie world so eager to get their hands on Spiderwick's Guide? And will the Grace children be left alone, now that the Guide has mysteriously disappeared? Don't count on it! At school, someone is running around pretending to be Jared, and it's not Simon. To make matters even worse, now Mallory has disappeared and something foul in the water is killing off all the plants and animals for miles around. Clues point to the old abandoned quarry, just outside of town. Dwarves have taken over an abandoned mine there. And the faerie world's abuzz with the news that a creature with plans to rule the world has offered them a gift to join with him - he's given them a queen...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34061 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
After a brief breather in book three, the Spiderwick Chronicles heat up with doppelgangers, then dwarves, then a dastardly double-cross, in the fourth book, The Ironwood Tree. The Grace kids (nine-year-old twins Simon and Jared, and 13-year-old Mallory) might think that things have finally quietened down for them, but the nefarious faerie world has many more surprises in store.

In the second chapter, "IN WHICH the Grace twins are triplets", a mysterious and menacing shape-shifter shows up at Mallory's fencing match, and before Simon and Jared can suss out what's up, their sister disappears, presumably kidnapped. Eager to recover Mallory, the two descend into a strange subterranean world beneath a nearby quarry, only to find themselves prisoners and then privy to a wicked (and almost unbelievable) plan.

Author Holly Black once again skilfully manages to weave in plenty of creepy details (including a bloody final chapter) without whitewashing or leaving young readers feeling too creeped out--and she gets able assistance from Tony DeTerlizzi's ever-evocative pen-and-ink drawings (especially in the looming menace of the Mulgarath). Fans of the series will have a hard time waiting for the final instalment, titled fittingly, ominously, The Wrath of Mulgarath. (Ages 6 to 10) --Paul Hughes, Amazon.com

About the Author
Holly Black spent her early years in a decaying Victorian mansion where her mother fed her a steady diet of ghost stories and faerie tales. An avid collector of rare folklore volumes, spooky dolls, and crazy hats, she lives in West Long Branch, New Jersey, with her husband, Theo. This is her first book. For more information, visit www.blackholly.com. Mary Botham Howitt was born in 1799 in Coleford, England. Originally published in 1829, Mary's best-known work 'The Spider and the Fly' has been enjoyed by generations of readers and has become an age old classical cautionary tale. Mary Howitt died in Rome in 1888. Tony DiTerlizzi's unique and unusal artstyle is the perfect complement to Howitt's classic tale. He lives with his wife in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

The one where Mallory does her Sleeping Beauty thing
During a break in faerie activity, the children try to get on with their lives. Mallory throws herself into her fencing, Simon looks after his animals and Jared continues to get into trouble.

But this peace and relative quiet doesn't last long when a shape changer appears at a fencing match, and contrives to get Jared into even more serious trouble than normal.

The plot thickens when Mallory disappears, and they have to pursue her into the depths of dwarf territory, solving a tricky riddle as they go along. The dwarves want the Field Guide really badly, and as the twins don't have it anymore, they have to ad-lib to the best of their ability.

After a tour of the dwarf realm of undying beauty, they meet with the dwarf Lord Korting, and see their sister under glass doing a Sleeping Beauty imitation. By keeping their wits about them they escape captivity and tough puppies, and witness a brutal betrayal by their enemy Mulgarath.

This is the darkest of the series so far, but one of the most detailed. Enjoy, you've only one more to go.

Amanda Richards

Fantasy at it's best
The Ironwood Tree, fourth of the Spiderwick Chronicles, a cute little series of evergreen yarns by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi depicts intrepid teen heroes Jarred, Simon and foxy Mallory Grace encountering a menacing and deadly Shape-shifter who frames Jarred for a crime he didn't commit. It's all downhill from here as Mallory is kidnapped by a fiendish band of dwarves who keep up with the tradition of being great miners and craftsmen and live in a subterannean utopia of gold, silver, copper and iron in the Old Quarry.
Now Simon and Jarred must find a way to rescue their sister before the dwarves put into action their plan for world-domination involving the Ironwood Tree.
But who is Mulgarath the Ogre?

The Spiderwick Chronicles, book 4.
The Ironwood Tree is very exciting and it involves Mallory being kidnapped by dwarfs. Jared and Simon have to rescue her and they come face to face with Mulgareth, an evil ogre who can take the form of any other creature or person.
This is yet again, a selling sucess for Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black!