Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: The Nixie's Song
By Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Hi! Have you ever seen a real faerie? Well, in this book, Nick and Laurie do! Nick and Laurie are step-brother and step-sister. They don’t like each other at all. And Nick is forced to give up his room to Laurie. And she goes on and on about faeries, believing they’re real.
Well, one day Nick is forced to take Laurie around and go hunting for faeries. While they’re doing that, Laurie tells him that if he finds a four-leaf clover, to hand it to her. Nick does find one and thinks about exchanging it for going back, but he wants to keep the cool clover. But they keep looking and looking until it gets dark out. There was no way that Nick was going to stay out in a storm like this just because Laurie was wanting to look for “make-believe” faeries, so he ran inside, leaving Laurie alone in the forest.
While Nick was inside, he saw a body in the grass. (I know this sounds creepy, but it’s not really.) He decided to go into Laurie’s bedroom and when he did, Laurie was lying on the bed. He asked her to come and check out this thing he found outside. She came reluctantly. He pointed out the still body, but Laurie couldn’t see it. Laurie asked Nick, “How do you have ‘The Sight’?” Nick said he didn’t know, but he did tell Laurie about the four-leaf clover. Then she told Nick that four-leaf clovers give you “The Sight.” And after Nick gave Laurie the four-leaf clover, she could see the body. Laurie went over and realized that it was breathing. She thought it was a Nixie (they live in water), so they brought it back into the lake.
The next day, Nick went to see the Nixie. She said her name was Taloa. Then, Taloa took him into the water. He couldn’t breathe for a few seconds; then she let him back out. Nick realized he could see the Nixie without the four-leaf clover. Laurie told Nick that the Nixie had given him “The Sight.” Then, Taloa told Nick and Laurie that her sisters ran away from something. She told them that there had been no wet ground, so she could not go out and search for them herself. So, she asked them to help her look for them, but she wanted them back so badly that she threatened Nick and Laurie if they didn’t help her.
Will Nick accept or will Taloa’s sisters be lost forever? As I always say, read the book to find out!
I recommend this book to readers who like excitement and adventure. I really loved this book! It also had tons of mystery, and this book is one book in a series, so if you like this one, you’ll have the whole rest of the series to go along to.
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor):
There were a few scary parts, and there were also some bad language parts.
"Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor):
There was no yucky-lovey stuff in this book.
I give this book 5 wands.
I really loved it! At first, I didn’t really want to read it, but then my mom got me into it and it was so good! One of my favorite parts is when Nick and Laurie meet Taloa. I hope you enjoy the book!
“A note from Emmie’s mom:
Parents, I usually try to read books before Emmie does to make sure that they are appropriate for her. This is one that I may not have thought was appropriate for her to read, but we will be hearing one of the authors speak, so I wanted for Emmie to familiarize herself with one of her books. There was a good bit of teenage angst and there was some name calling that I wouldn’t have wanted my daughter to read. We discussed these things before and after she read the book. I would recommend reading this book before your child does to be sure that you approve of it. ”
