The Field Guide

Jared’s recent bad behavior makes him the obvious suspect when his family suffers vandalism and assaults at their new home. To silence the accusations, he must rethink his childish attitude, discover the real culprit, and find a way to deal with the entity so that the crimes cease.

Jared reacts badly to his parents’ divorce. His grades suffer; he mopes, gets into a fight at school, and nearly gets expelled before he and his family move away. The old, decrepit house that they move to distresses him even more, and he complains bitterly about it, argues with his siblings, and is short with his mother.

The trouble starts with a sound in the walls, something that could be attributed to an animal like a squirrel. This is common in fantasy literature or haunted house literature, where the fantastical elements start subtly and escalate. The three Grace children trace the sounds to a cubbyhole filled with junk collected by some sort of small creature. They clear out the junk, hoping to make the little thing leave. They don’t know that the being in question is a type of faerie called a brownie that reacts violently to any mistreatment, converts into an angry boggart, and begins to exact vengeance on them.

The horror escalates: Mallory and Simon both receive arm bruises while they sleep, Mallory’s hair gets tied to her headboard, the kitchen is vandalized, and some of Simon’s pet animals are stolen or killed. Jared didn’t participate in the removal of things from the wall, and the creature spares him. As the only unharmed child, he looks to be the chief suspect. Mallory, who started things by breaking into the wall, doesn’t yet believe in faeries, blames Jared, and threatens him with violence if the mischief continues.

The true horror is Jared’s mother’s lack of faith in him, and his alienation from his family. His mother threatens him with a consequence worse than punishment: “If anything else happens around here, I’m going to have to take you to see someone” (86-87). Jared realizes he might be sent to an institution like his aunt Lucinda, who insists that little people bring her delicious food.

Unfairly accused, Jared has no way of convincing his mother that invisible beings caused the mayhem. He realizes that his own bad behavior has given him a faulty reputation. To save himself, he must grow up quickly, mend his ways, convince his siblings that what they’ve witnessed only makes sense if faeries live in the building, and make a peace offering to the wall creature. It’s a lot to do, but he wants to follow that path. It’s constructive, challenging, and demands the most from him. He calmly accepts this more grown-up approach.

To accomplish his goal, he takes the field guide to his brother and sister, meaning to show them a description of the faerie who’s the most likely culprit, and thus gain their help. Mallory instead grabs the guide and threatens to tear it up, saying the book is the cause of all the problems. He protests: “I got the book after your hair was knotted” (91). Simon takes his side, and they agree to help return the boggart’s possessions and ask the faerie for a truce. Their plan works: They meet Thimbletack face-to-face, he appreciates their gesture, and the mischief ceases.

Jared still can’t convince his mother that he’s innocent: She doesn’t see or hear the faeries, and Jared’s insistence on their reality would convince her that he needs psychological help. Still, Jared has grown as a character; he’s gotten over his peevishness, accepted the price he must pay for churlish behavior, figured out how to stop the mischief that bedevils him and his family, and learned how to negotiate with a boggart. It’s a lot of growing up in a short time.