Reviews:

Children's Literature

The authors of the popular "Spiderwick" series provide their avid readers with an incredibly useful guide to the care and feeding of sprites. This important text provides interested readers and potential sprite owners with detailed illustrations of seventeen types of sprites and their various good and bad habits. Boxed "right" and "wrong" boxes provide specific hints on how to handle the various sprites. The narrative of the text has a great deal of humor as the authors deal with such topics as how to obtain a sprite, how to figure out the gender of your sprite, how to tell the difference between a sprite and other magical entities, and how sprites may feel. The beautifully-colored and detailed illustrations of sprites themselves, as well as additional illustrations underscore many of the points and tips offered by the authors, official members of the International Sprite League. Finally, the thick cover of the book is actually a poster that avid sprite fans can hang up in their rooms. This is a definite winner for Spiderwick fans!

Kirkus Reviews

Jacketed in a large, folded, glow-in-the-dark poster, this guide for prospective sprite owners features a suite of minutely detailed, full-body portraits paired with cogent advice on selecting, obtaining (legally), housing, feeding and showing the finger-sized creatures. Distinctly insect-like in appearance, with wings, faceted eyes ("Sprites see in a manner that could be compared to looking at a wall of televisions, with several turned to different channels"), ornate coloration on chitinous bodies, but humanoid facial features, sprites come in a rich assortment of types. They range from the Rackham Sprite (a bit of homage there) to the Glowing Toadfly, and make rewarding, if invariably mischievous, pets-far less dangerous than, for instance, boggarts or will-o-the-wisps. This diverting vade mecum ends with an entry on the International Sprite League, which confirmed Spiderwickians will be strongly tempted to join. (Nonfiction. 8-11)