I just picked up both the Book of Unwritten Tales and it's prequel/expansion the Critter Chronicles and I'm wondering in which order they should be played? According to internal chronology (the prequel first then the original game) or external chronology (the original game then the later made prequel)? If I play the prequel first, will it spoil things in the original game (or vice versa) or will the prequel only really make sense if I've played the original first? Is there an "official" order in which they should be played and/or a fan consensus? I always seem to have this question with book series' too and there never seems to be a consistent answer, maddening! Thanks in advance to whomever can shed some non-spoilerish light on this topic.

That's because you're seeking advice from complete strangers, of whom each and every one has a potentially different answer/reason. On that note, I am not even going to try to convince you one way or the other (regarding your specific question). All I will say is TBoUT was written and published before TCC. Was there a reason for that? It doesn't matter; that's the way it happened. Don't take other people's words as some sort of holy grail of advice. Make your own mind up, and go it your way.

CC makes references to things from BoUT that would be funnier if one plays BoUT first.

I own both and almost done with tBoUT. Usually it makes sense to play games in the order that they are released. The developers know that most people buying CC will have played tBoUT and thus design it that way.

I am going to play CC next. Just my two cents.