Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's fantastical world of Spiderwick is being brought to life by the really smart people over at Paramount. When I say "really smart people," I mean people who possess the incredible ability to envision success for a magnificent story.

Do I sound like a fan of Spiderwick? I am. Unabashedly so.

It wasn't all that long ago that my son and I sat down with the first three books in the series: The Field Guide, The Seeing Stone, and Lucinda's Secret. It took us a week of afterschool reading to get through the first book, four afternoons of reading to get through the second, and two afternoons to get through the third.

At a local book store, we read all of the fourth book, The Ironwood Tree, in just a couple hours. Buying that book, and the final installment of the series, The Wrath of Mulgrath, we finished off the full set and promptly began to read them again.

The story of the Grace children — Jared and Simon (the twins), and their older sister Mallory — comes to life on the pages of the Spiderwick Chronicles after their mother moves them out to Aunt Lucinda's house. Poor Jared is having a difficult time adjusting to life ever since his parents split up. He's been in plenty of trouble and can't seem to get it together. With the new home and a fresh start, the Graces are hoping life will return to normal soon. That might have been possible if they hadn't moved into an enchanted house. Odd rustling in the walls, a secret room, a journal filled with strange creatures, and of course, real live strange creatures make "normal" a thing of the past.

It's a rich fantasy world, which means there's danger around every corner, behind the wall, under the leaves in the yard. You never know what you'll come upon next.

I was surprised at how quickly these books became a part of our lives, especially since my son was hesitant to read anything that might be scary. He got over that quickly once he discovered just how much he had in common with Jared and Simon Grace. Aside from boggarts, goblins, hobgoblins, phoenixes, wyverns, and faeries, that is.

For once, I wish I'd had twins. Since I don't happen to have twins, I'll have to settle for taking my son down to Comicon (where Tony DiTerlizzi's rumored to appear) this summer and to the movie when it opens. This is one movie we can't wait to see!

Pre-production art is rumored to be amazing (news section). I have no doubt that it is. With the lush illustrations from DiTerlizzi to work from, the movie is sure to be filled with magnificent beasts and the like.

If you happen to know someone with twin boys, why not check out the casting call for The Spiderwick Chronicles? We just may be seeing your kids on the big screen sometime in 2007!

In the meantime, read the books, grab your copy of the Field Guide, and start exploring the world around you.