At the Back of the North Wind vs The Spiderwick Chronicles: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Fairy Tales, Adventure, Children's fiction

Cover of At the Back of the North Wind

At the Back of the North Wind George MacDonald · 1871 ★★★★☆ 4.0 278 pages · ≈ 5 h 09 m · Moderate Find on Amazon

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Cover of The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Spiderwick Chronicles Tony DiTerlizzi · 2004 ★★★★☆ 4.0 160 pages · ≈ 2 h 58 m · Light Find on Amazon

The verdict

Ratings are close: 4.0 vs 4.0 — either is a safe pick by score.
The Spiderwick Chronicles is the quicker read — about 2 hours vs 5 for At the Back of the North Wind.
The Spiderwick Chronicles is the easier read (Light), At the Back of the North Wind more demanding (Moderate).

Side by side