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The Nixie's Song (Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1) | 
| Authors: Tony Diterlizzi, Holly Black
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $10.99
Buy Used: $3.99
You Save: $7.00 (64%)
New (56) Used (23) from $3.99
Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 1941
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.7 x 0.8
ISBN: 0689871317
EAN: 9780689871313
ASIN: 0689871317
Publication Date: September 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Standard used condition.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Spiderwick Chronicles leave the old-fashioned charm of New England far behind and head south for some fiendish faerie fun in the hot Florida sun. Eleven-year-old Nicholas Vargas only thinks his life has been turned upside down after his developer father remarries and moves his new wife and daughter into the soon-to-be completed Mangrove Hollow. But an "expedition" to a nearby lake turns up a little nixie with a giant problem - the huge, lumbering, fire-breathing variety - and it's up to Nick; his stepsister, Laurie; and his big brother, Julian (plus a familiar face from the original Spiderwick Chronicles) to figure out the best way to stop a host of rampaging giants before all of Florida goes up in smoke.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
Mild language- tween stuff November 26, 2008
T. Meza (San Jose, CA USA)
I shared this with my kids at Elem library and they liked it. Spiderwick is very popular right now and they all want anything new that's out there. They have been taking turns...The only complaint I have is the back cover has a "note" from one of the characters and he uses lots of mean rude words to describe his situation. I had my 9 year old go through this and she found only a few pages of similar language. It's no four letter spouting, but it's not the kind of talk I would want to encourage...however Diterlizzi kept things in context, so a smart kid would "get" that fact.
 Magical August 27, 2008
drebbles (Arlington, MA USA)
Eleven-year-old Nicholas Vargas has had to make a lot of adjustments since his mother died and their father remarried. For one thing, he has to give up his bedroom to his new stepsister, Laurie. Nicholas doesn't have a lot of patience with Laurie, especially since she believes fairies are real. He tells her that her book about fairies, "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You" is fiction but she insists that fairies do exist. Much to his surprise, Nicholas finds out that Laurie is right and soon he is involved in adventures far beyond anything he would have imagined.
"The Nixie's Song" is the first book in the three-part sequel to the "Spiderwick Chronicles" fantasy series for children. I was a bit wary about reading it, because I was afraid that it wouldn't capture the magic of the first series, but it does a very good job of doing so. It does at times walk a very fine line that could have been dangerous as it blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction - authors Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black appear as characters as do Simon and Jared Grace (with Jared playing a big role towards the end of this book) - but it works out fine. The book deals nicely with the real life issue of a young boy struggling with the loss of his mother and his father's remarriage and dealing with a new stepsister. Nick Vargas is a well-written character - he thinks of himself as a bit of a loser, overweight and resentful of losing his bedroom to his new stepsister. His stepsister Laurie is also well written, a young girl who still believes in magic. All of the magical elements are well done especially the Nixie and the Giant.
Authors DiTerlizzi and Black have written yet another magical book.
Fans of The Spiderwick Chronicles will be thrilled to discover this brand-new cycle of the New York Times bestselling series August 19, 2008
Kidsreads.com (New York, NY)
Nicholas Vargas is not at all happy about having a new stepsister, especially since Laurie is now in his bedroom and he is sharing a room with his aloof older brother, Julian. He is not amused when Laurie suggests that they search outside for faeries, which (of course) he does not believe in. Imagine his shock when he comes across a type of faery called a nixie. This particular nixie is in trouble because she is far from her pond. She can't survive out of water, so Laurie and Nick rescue her by hauling her to the lake.
As unnerving as that experience was, Nick is happy to have the whole faery episode behind him. But Laurie informs him that Taloa, the nixie, needs more help from them. Laurie persuades Nick into going to the lake to chat with Taloa, who wrestles him into the water.
Nick is indignant at this treatment, but he is even more incensed when Taloa sings (nixies sing instead of talk) that she needs his help to find her sisters who fled when the forest burned. When Nick refuses, Taloa croons that he will be sorry. Sure enough, when he reaches his father's car, it is filled with sand. This persuades Nick that maybe they ought to help Taloa after all. But first they have to deal with a rather significant obstacle in the form of a (gulp!) flame-throwing giant. The giant is content and placid as long as Taloa sings, but Taloa definitely cannot sing ceaselessly forever.
Fans of The Spiderwick Chronicles will be thrilled to discover this brand-new cycle of the New York Times bestselling series. Nick copes with his new family while starting out on his exhilarating adventure, which continues into the next book. The authors' humor is on full display, particularly in one surreal scene in which Nick and Laurie attend a book signing where they encounter not only characters from The Spiderwick Chronicles but Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black themselves (described as "a spiky-haired man in a bright blazer" and "a plump woman dressed entirely in black").
Readers will eagerly await the second installment, A GIANT PROBLEM, to see how Nick fares with his quest.
--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
A Kids Review June 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm 9 yrs old and I think this is a good book. I think that other people will like it also.
My Favorite Spiderwick..... May 18, 2008
BJ (East Peoria, IL United States)
I've read all the Spiderwick Chronicles, good books, good stories and great characters.
I bought this just for the sake of reading them all. At first, after I realized that they changed the characters, added some new ones. I was thinking about how good the first series was and how much I didn't like the new one. Wrong, this book is great. The story really kicks in, Jared and Simon show up eventually and the story ends well.
Great first book, in the second series!
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