Decided to reread a middle school favorite, and it still holds up. DiTirlizzi also wrote The Spiderwick Chronicles (another childhood fave), and suffice it to say, his books have seriously influenced who I am today. The fascinating, imaginative worlds he creates--paired with his beautiful illustrations, are truly PEAK aesthetic for me. Bless the internet archive for having scanned copies (epubs and pdfs dont seem to have the full page illustrations at the beginning of each chapter) so I can binge the trilogy. Onto book 2!