The Wolves in the Walls - Softcover

Gaiman, Neil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380810956 ISBN 13: 9780380810956

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2000

Synopsis

[ { By Gaiman, Neil ( Author ) THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS Jul-26-2005 Paperback } ]

About this title

Review

Truth be told, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's picture book The Wolves in the Walls is terrifying. Sure, the story is fairytale-like and presented in a jaunty, casually nonsensical way, but it is absolutely the stuff of nightmares. Lucy hears wolves hustling, bustling, crinkling and crackling in the walls of the old house where her family lives, but no one believes her. Her mother says it's mice, her brother says bats, and her father says what everyone seems to say: "If the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over." Lucy remains convinced, as is her beloved pig-puppet, and her worst fears are confirmed when the wolves actually do come out of the walls.

Up to this point, McKean's illustrations are spectacular, sinister collages awash in golden sepia tones evocative of the creepy beauty in The City of Lost Children. The wolves explode into the story in scratchy pen-and-ink, all jaws and eyes. The family flees to the cold, moonlit garden, where they ponder their future. Her brother suggests they escape to outer space where there's "nothing but foozles and squossucks for billions of miles". Lucy wants to live in her own house...and she wants the pig-puppet she left behind.

Eventually she talks her family into moving back into the once-wolfish walls, where they peek out at the wolves who are watching their television and spilling popcorn on slices of toast and jam, dashing up the stairs and wearing their clothes. When the family can't stand it anymore, they burst forth from the walls, scaring the wolves, who shout "And when the people come out of the walls, it's all over!" The wolves flee and everything goes back to normal...until the tidy ending when Lucy hears "a noise that sounded exactly like an elephant trying not to sneeze". Adult fans of this talented pair will revel in the quirky story and its darkly gorgeous, deliciously shadowy trappings, but the young or faint of heart, beware. The book is recommended for ages nine and above. --Karin Snelson, Amazon.com

Review

"This is a picture book for the twenty-first century child: visually and emotionally sophisticated, accessible, and inspired."--ALA Booklist

"Children will delight in the "scary, creepy" tone and in the brave behavior displayed by the intrepid young heroine."--School Library Journal

"Gaiman, with regular collaborator Dave McKean, suffuses this sumptuous story with a night-light-worthy creepiness."--Family Fun Magazine

"The illustrations are amazing. And, like every good scary story, there's an unexpected twist at the end."--Washington Post

"Madly inventive, madly funny. Some will find it creepy; for the rest it will offer the sustaining jam of life."--The Guardian (UK)

"Spectacular...atmospheric, sinister, scary, and funny...This is a book for cool kids who will grow up to be fearless."--Sunday Times (London)

"Gaiman has one creepy imagination. Hand this to a jaded third or fourth-grader and watch their eyes get big."--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Gaiman's text rings with energetic confidence and an inviting tone. McKean expertly matches the tale's funny-scary mood."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0380810956
• ISBN 13: 9780380810956
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 56
• Illustrator: McKean Dave