Customer Reviews

The Wolves in the Walls

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What a strange, wonderful new book!
Neil Gaiman has long been one of my favorite authors, but I admit I had doubts as to how well he could write for children. With a history of gritty, streetwise characters, ( I'm thinking John Constantine, or maybe Door, here), I thought he might just be too edgy for the little ones.
All my fears were put to rest after reading The Wolves in the Walls, though for the kids they were just beginning!
The story is scary, especially accompanied by Dave McKean's dramatic illustrations. But, as surreal as the plot is, there is a comforting normality in the interactions of the characters.
Lucy, the young girl who is the only one of her family to recognize the danger lurking behind the house's walls, is reassuringly level-headed. She never panics, but reacts sensibly and courageously to the bizarre events which inspire only confusion and fear in her parents.
After the wolves come out, the family is forced to abandon the house. The mother and father, giving all up for lost, propose preposterous solutions to resolve the family's sudden homelessness. Dad thinks they might move to a desert island, mom suggests a hot-air balloon.
Lucy calmly rides out her family's panic, making some decisions about what is most important to her, and how best to save the day.
Gaiman never panders to children, and never assumes their fears are less valid than an adult's. Saying that, he also seems to have no qualms with playing off those fears.
I wish that as a child, I had read books that had really addressed my fears, and answered the question, just what if the wolves really had come out of the walls?

Lucy is a young girl living with her family in a house that manifests odd sounds in its walls. Her father -- preoccupied with his tuba playing -- swears the noises are caused by mice or rats. Her mother -- busying herself with bottling jam -- agrees that it is an insect or animal. Lucy's little brother -- the high score champ on all the houses' video games -- thinks it might be bats. But Lucy is sure that the bumps and bangs behind the walls are caused by wolves. "Not possible," they all say. "Because if it were wolves, IT would all be over."

It is soon discovered, however, that there ARE wolves in the walls, and they erupt into Lucy and her parents' house one night, chasing them out of their home and taking over the residence. The only item to make it out of the house was her father's primary tuba. Lucy's pig puppet, her mothers jams and foodstuffs, and her brothers video games are still in the house. And Lucy sneaks back up to find the wolves taking advantage of all these items (and even abusing her father's 'secondary' tuba).

The family soon tires of spending nights out in the garden and decide to take back their home. The ending is fun and enjoyable.

The story is light, non-bloody, and very enjoyable. Depending on your childrens level of understanding, this might be a very fun book for them. Mainly for two reasons...

One, it shows how a child can have power within her family and become a hero (even though this story is fictional). Two, the graphic images portrayed by artist Dave McKean are intersted, fresh and original.

I've read other reviews from readers here at Amazon and someone said that this story might be 'Too scarey to read to a child.' I disagree. There's no bloodshed, or gore, or excess violence. I think a child would be more frightened by what they read in a newspaper or see on the nightly news, rather than THIS book.

A+ children's story and graphics.

It's too beautiful to be a children's book. Inspired by a nightmare of one of his daughter's, author Neil Gaiman has developed a wonderful terrifying tale. Lucy can hear wolves in the walls of her home. She's quite certain of what she's hearing, but her family doesn't seem to believe her. When the wolves come out, it is (as the family has always said) all over. Lucy must find a way for her family to retake their home from the nasty, jam-eating, video game playing, tuba thumping wolves.

The pairing of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean on this book is inspired. Gaiman has often said in interviews that he sees this book less as a picture book and more as a graphic novel. The distinction is slight. In some cases the pages are separated into four panels (something you'd see in a comic book and not, necessarily, a story for children). But I disagree with Mr. Gaiman. This is a picture book and it shows. McKean has taken Gaiman's wonderfully twisted tale and created pictures that combine such a huge amount of different media, it could blow your mind. A single panel might have a gigantic wolf drawn in pen and ink with photos of socks on its feet and fabric beneath him for the bed.

Is the story too scary for children? Well, sure. For some children. I'm not going to grab the your two year-old and force them to read it. But kids with a healthy sense of humor and intelligence will like this book. It will not give them nightmares. It will not make them afraid of wolves for the rest of their little lives. But it will peak their interest and curiosity. I recommend it. It's a one in a million book.

A wonderfully unusual and fascinating children's book. Neil Gaiman has a finely tuned story-sense, keeping the plot deliciously adventuresome (but never too scary for a child), with dollops of the amusingly absurd in all the right spots. His words beg to be read aloud, even if you're only reading to yourself!

Dave McKean's illustrations are nothing short of amazing. They are collages of everything you can think of -- photos, paintings, drawings -- with a highly unusual, beautiful effect. Parents will like looking at these pictures as much as children will!

I recently read this book outloud to my cousin and he LOVED it! The book is so intuitive and allows so much expression and voice intonation. The characters are distinct individuals and I could instantly find their voice. The art is simply amazing - I've been a fan of McKean for years. I really don't think kids should be underestimated in their intelligence to appreciate the interesting art that mixes striking artwork and snippits of pictures of real-life objects. There is more to the artwork than that, but that's another review.

Some may think this book will frighten children, but it seems more like a healthy lesson in showing how silly such fear can be. The book is more about defeating fear, as the family was able to get rid of the wolves so easily. In the end the things that seem so scary (monsters under the bed, etc) are silly things that can be defeated with a simple look. And it doesn't hurt that this book is written cleverly and with wonderful style.

I could go on and on about this book, but I will just sum up by saying: art is great, writing is great, story is fun and interesting and great for dramatic outloud readings, and the story is an excellent lesson in the silliness of childhood fears.

So many of today's children's books are all full of white light bunny fluff. We protect our little darlings from anything that might be frightening. But children know better. They know about the monster under the bed and the reasons not to be alone in the dark. They KNOW, and when we adults tell them that "there's nothing to be worried about" they KNOW that we're no help.

Neil Gaiman and David McKean have offered children of all ages the gift of knowledge--in this wonderful volume comes the knowledge that at least SOME adults KNOW what can lurk in the unknown.

In this story, the adults (and even the kid brother) are SO wrong about what lurks within the walls, but Lucy, the hero, KNOWS. She plays the part of a child in a fairy tale, leading the "knowing" adults to KNOWLEDGE, and finally to overcoming their fears and setting things right.

The illustrations buttress the message of this neo-fairy tale and increase the delight of reading it or having it read to you. Impactful, but not so dark as stories where witches want to pop plump children into their ovens.

All my kids, their friends, and my friends who are children at heart LOVE this book. Buy it already!!!

Once again, Neil Gaiman has done it again, "it" being crafting an imminently readable and likeable book for all ages, from 6 to 60, as he did with "Stardust" and "Coraline."

"The Wolves in the Walls" has that same eerie, disjointed, disquieting look that "Coraline" had, though not as powerfully as the latter work. It is about a girl named Lucy, who lives in a lonely hill top house with her parents and brother. One day she hears wolves in the walls, but no one believes her. When the wolves do come out of the walls, her family has to decide how to deal with it.

Ostensibly a book geared toward younger readers, this book works on other levels for the critical, interested reader of all ages. The illustrations by Dave McKean are very much sort of a dark collage, a collage by a madman. Everything is rendered in geometric, shadowy disarray... the mundane becomes sinister, and pervasive throughout the book is a sense of subdued yet black surrealism, featuring angles and proportions of insanity, much like "Coraline." The book speaks to childhood fears through an adult milieu, while addressing adult fears in a more subdued manner.

While this book does not deliver the emotional punch or satisfaction of "Coraline" it is nonetheless a good book, one I highly recommend. It also has a great sense of humor, rare for such a dark work -- who can not laugh at the mother who makes enough jam for an army, or the wolves "dancing their wolfish dances." Check it out.

The previous reviewer who talks about "bloody jawed wolves" and "wolves with blood on their jaws" obviously hasn't bothered to read the book before warning people not to read it.

There's no blood in this book. These are funny wolves, and at one point they get into the jam-pots and jam is smeared on their mouths and paws.

The worst that the wolves do is play video games and eat popcorn and smear jam around.

It's a really funny book. With lovely pictures.

I've been a fan of Gaiman's work since discovering "Neverwhere" a few years back. After reading "Coraline, " another excellent work, I picked up this one for a quick read.

"The Wolves in the Wall" is a well-written and equally well-illustrated picture book intended for elementary school children (grades 2-4). However, it's an equally satisfying read for adults. Quirky, creepy, funny in spots, and as disjointed as any nightmare, the book tells the story of a child who overcomes her fears to save the day for her oblivious, helpless family. Just as in Sendak's best works ("Where the Wild Things Are," for instance), a hefty dose of psychological reality underlies the fantasy here. What child's parents ever REALLY understand the monsters in the closet or under the bed? Gaiman and McKean obviously do and manage to domesticate them at least a little for their young readers.

The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 was the ending-it seemed a little pat to me. Nonetheless, I highly recommend the book and look forward to having it on my shelves to reread for years to come.

Take an interesting offbeat story, add in an intriguing graphic style for the illustrations and what do you get? A wonderfully put together and thoroughly enjoyable book. I'll admit that I have NO IDEA how this book would play with children. I bought it because I like much of Neil Gaiman's other work and enjoyed The Day I Swapped My Dad for 2 Goldfish. I actually liked this book a lot more than the goldfish book. I thought the story was better, I liked the illustrations more, and I had a lot of fun reading the book. Two thumbs up! Also, I do think that this book would be okay for readers below the age limit listed here. It is a little on the scary side, but it does have a pretty much upbeat ending that resolves most of the scary bits.