The Field Guide

Jared’s identical twin, Simon, is the orderly, respectable brother, though his menagerie of small critters suggests that he, too, has room in his personality for a bit of chaos. As a twin, nine-year-old Simon naturally sympathizes with Jared, and how deeply troubled he’s been since their father left. Quietly he sides with his brother; he supports Jared’s investigation into the cause of the kitchen disaster and the other strange happenings in the house.

Simon’s belief in Jared is an oasis for the accused boy; it encourages him and leads to their discovery of the boggart who perpetrated the kitchen disaster.

At age 13, Mallory is the oldest of the Grace children. She takes charge of her brothers with confidence and the occasional threat. She’s an expert fencer, which gives her courage and a quick impatience with whatever gets in her way. The Grace children’s mother trusts Mallory to watch over her brothers, but Mallory promptly violates that trust by exploring the house with the twins. Though she accuses Jared of being responsible for the recent vandalism, she quickly accepts his innocence when shown the evidence about boggarts and their vengeful behavior.

Mallory uses her fencing prowess only once; she applies the blunt end of a broom to a kitchen wall in search of a hidden animal. This, along with her outdoor sword practice, foreshadows actions she takes in later volumes of the Spiderwick Chronicles series. Meanwhile, in The Field Guide, she propels the plot forward as Jared’s bossy big sister who has no trouble threatening him, but also quickly sides with him when shown the truth about his innocence.

Helen Grace is the mother of Mallory, Simon, and Jared. She loves her kids and does her best to provide for them. When forced to move the family into a decrepit old house, she puts the best face on the situation and tries to encourage the children to see the good side of the move. Though she fails, her efforts hint at her basic decency. She has no idea that faeries reside in the house’s walls, and, long accustomed to Jared’s mischief, she accuses him of misbehavior when a boggart vandalizes her kitchen. This alienates her son even as he tries to protect her from the real threat.

Though a minor character, Mrs. Grace’s decisions restrict the children’s movements and push the plot forward. As a parent, she symbolizes every child’s frustration with authority figures who don’t understand them or how important their wants and needs are.

Thimbletack is a brownie, a small faerie who sometimes lives inside the walls of a house. When angered, a brownie transforms into a boggart, a wild creature that ekes out revenge on those who hurt him. Thimbletack is “a little man about the size of a pencil. His eyes were as black as beetles, his nose was large and red, and he looked very like the illustration from the Guide” (103).

Though he is mostly unseen throughout the novel, his presence is felt through his deeds. Thimbletack writes and speaks in rhyme, and, when the Grace children break into his wall niche and tear out his collection of found treasures, he retaliates by pinching their arms when they sleep, tying Mallory’s hair to her bed’s headboard, stealing or killing Simon’s pet animals, and trashing the family kitchen.

The children realize their mistake and return Thimbletack’s possessions. The boggart appreciates the gesture and changes back to his peaceful brownie state, though he retains, on leashes, the mice he stole from Simon. He warns the children that the field guide is dangerous and should be destroyed. A major character in the book, he’s known only by his actions until he introduces himself to the children at the end of the story. As the main driver of the plot, Thimbletack stands in for the faerie world that begins to impinge on the children’s lives. His angry reprisals represent the rage of those who are mistreated. His actions serve as a lesson for the Grace kids, who learn to be respectful toward those they don’t yet understand. He teaches them The Value of Kindness.