You may know Neil Gaiman as the author behind such adult supernatural fiction masterworks as American Gods and Anansi Boys, or as the author behind the Sandman series of graphic novels. If so, it may surprise you to learn Mr. Gaiman has written a number of books that are appropriate for younger readers—though still plenty enjoyable for adults.
The Graveyard Book is a Newbury Medal winner, and a New York Times bestseller. The book has an average review rating of 4.75/5 stars, is recommended for ages 10 and up, and is priced at $7.99 (price was set by the publisher). From Amazon:
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.
He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.
There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.
But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod’s family. . . .
Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, the graveyard book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.
Stardust, another NY Times Bestseller served as the source material for the movie of the same name, but the movie doesn’t follow the book very closely. The book has an average review rating of 4/5 stars, is recommended for teens, and is priced at $8.99 (price was set by the publisher). From Amazon:
Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can–he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You’ll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you’ll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet.) –Therese Littleton
Another of Gaiman’s books you may recognize more from the film adaptation is Coraline. This book has an average review rating of 4.5/5 stars, is recommended for ages 8 and up, and is priced at $6.99 (price was set by the publisher). From Amazon:
The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring….
In Coraline’s family’s new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.
The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.
Only it’s different.
At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there’s another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.
Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.
Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.
M is for Magic is Gaiman’s terrific, spooky short story collection for kids, but as with all of Gaiman’s work, adults will be equally pleased with it. This book has an average review rating of 4/5 stars, is recommended for ages 10 and up, and is priced at $6.99 (price was set by the publisher).
Stories to delight, enchant, and surprise you.
Bestselling author and master storyteller Neil Gaiman here presents a breathtaking collection of tales that may chill or amuse readers—but always embrace the unexpected:
- A teenage boy who has trouble talking to girls finds himself at a rather unusual party.
- A sinister jack-in-the-box haunts the lives of the children who owned it.
- A boy raised in a graveyard makes a discovery and confronts the much more troubling world of the living.
- A stray cat fights a nightly battle to protect his adopted family from a terrible evil.
These eleven stories illuminate the real and the fantastic, and will be welcomed with great joy by Neil Gaiman’s many fans as well as by readers coming to his work for the first time.
Finally, Good Omens is a book that wasn’t written with kids in mind, but is appropriate for the Young Adult (YA) audience. Co-authored by the legendary fantasy author Terry Pratchett, this novel is a funny, whimsical and imaginative look at the end times, and the efforts of one angel, one demon, and a pair of humans to avert armageddon. This book has an average review rating of 4.5/5 stars, and is priced at $9.99 (price was set by the publisher).
There is a distinct hint of Armageddon in the air. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded, thankfully, in 1655, before she blew up her entire village and all its inhabitants, who had gathered to watch her burn), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world’s last two remaining witch-finders are getting ready to fight the good fight, armed with awkwardly antiquated instructions and stick pins. Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. . . . Right. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan.
Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon — each of whom has lived among Earth’s mortals for many millennia and has grown rather fond of the lifestyle — are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they’ve got to find and kill the Antichrist (which is a shame, as he’s a really nice kid). There’s just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him. . . .
First published in 1990, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s brilliantly dark and screamingly funny take on humankind’s final judgment is back…
If you’re looking to get your kids into quality literature from the start, you can’t go wrong with the works of Neil Gaiman.