I’ve had my first sighting of the upcoming Spiderwick activity books. Yippee! I’ll get my copies in the mail eventually, but I watch for early images and information on the Web. These pics are on the Simon & Schuster Web site.

I wonder if the second image is really the final cover. I suspect not. I imagine it will look more like the first with an image from the movie when all is said and done. This might be a work-in-progress, like an ARC (advance reader’s copy) or uncorrected proof. Cool, huh?

I created the activities for these books last year. It was a blast, of course. The next bit of fun is seeing what they look like in print. Simon Scribbles (the imprint at Simon & Schuster that does these books) did a great job with the Nancy Drew activity books, so my expectations are high for these.

The final bit of fun is seeing the movie on which the books are based. Are the quotes I used in the activities actually in the movie?! Maybe a line was cut in the final edit, or maybe an actor altered a line. I read the script and design the activities around it before or while the final editing of the movie is done. Okay, I don’t really know what’s going on with the movie as I’m puzzling, but I get some clues. For instance, a couple of months after I’d turned in the Spiderwick manuscripts, I had to go back and change a number of puzzles because a character in the script was cut from the final movie. I don’t suppose there’s any way around this, since the books and movie arrive simultaneously. Interesting, though, isn’t it? And it’s extra fun for me, looking for changes in the movie.

Before you ask, I assure you that no, I don’t know Holly Black, Tony DiTerlizzi (I do know his birthday is 2 days after mine), or anyone involved with the movie. I kinda sorta almost know Rebecca, Siobhan, and Lisa at Simon Scribbles and that’s it.

12/29 Update
Check it out. They’re on Amazon, too:

Thimbletack’s Activity Book
Hogsqueal’s Activity Book

I was right about the second cover above not being the real McCoy. Here’s the real one.

Amazon says they’re in stock. I wonder if that’s true. I still don’t have mine, but that doesn’t mean anything.