A MOMENT WITH THE SPIDERWICK CREATORS

from www.covertocoverkids.blogspot.com:

Young chapter-book readers with a thirst for faeries, fantasy and adventure can enjoy one last romp before they say farewell to the Spiderwick saga. This week saw the release of the final title, The Wyrm King, by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (Simon & Schuster, $11.99).

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Meanwhile, good news for Seattle fans: Black and DiTerlizzi have upcoming bookstore appearances in this area. Here’s where you can find them:

  • Mon., Sept. 14 at 7 p.m., Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park.
  • Tues., Sept. 15, 7 p.m., Borders, 16549 NE 74th St., Redmond.

The Spiderwick saga began with the lavishly illustrated Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You and grew to encompass two bestselling fantasy-adventure series for readers 7-10: The Spiderwick Chronicles and Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles. All told, the Spiderwick books have sold more than 6 million copies in over 30 languages, and the original series was adapted into a 2008 feature film starring Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker and Nick Nolte.

Tony and Holly, I understand you met during an interview. What exactly were the circumstances and how did that meeting lead to yourcreative collaboration?

Tony: Prior to creating children’s books, I was an illustrator for TSR, the company that published the Dungeons & Dragons game. Achieving some mild stature as fantasy artist through my work on the game, Holly was sent out to interview me (my wife, Angela, and I were then living in Brooklyn at the time) for a gaming/fantasy magazine called D8. Sadly the magazine went under before the interview ran, but our friendship flourished.

Holly: We both were really interested in faerie folklore and fairy tales and loved to talk about what made stories work. We also shared a desire to introduce kids to those old stories. So when Tony wanted to work on this big field guide to faeries, I was enthusiastic and encouraging. Encouragement turned to an offer to help with the research and then Tony asked me to partner with him on the project. 

Read more here

I really like all the fantasy that surrounds books like this. What do you thing of the creators interview? Have you read the Spiderwick Saga? Have you seen the movie?