The Spiderwick Cronicles: Book 1-5

I remember a time when I believed – no, I absolutely knew – that fairies lived in the world around me. I couldn’t see them but they were there. Toni DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s book The Spiderwick Chronicles transported me back to this wonderful state of mind. The illustrations and the narrative are whimsical, innocent and fantastical. I adored these books.

Right before a long car trip I grabbed the audiobook at the library. As I have mentioned, I have a really hard time absorbing auditory information so sometimes I listen to the audio version of books I have already read. But this audiobook is narrated by Mark Hamill. Mark Hamill people. I adore him as an actor but as a voice actor he is unparalleled in his talent.

Hamill really breathes life into all the different characters of the Chronicles alive. You do not need to see the illustrations, they become three dimensional through his voice. I actually listened to this story on the way to my destination and on the way back home again. To this day, if you say “hobgoblin,” I hear it in his voice.

This is a fantastic story brought almost completely to life by the talents of Mark Hamill. Reading it is fun but listening to it is as close to living it as you can get.