 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Wolves in the Walls
- By Neil Gaiman
- Genre: Picture Book
Common Sense Media says
May be too intense for the youngest kids.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that the collage artwork and design of the book are excellent, but many of the images are intended to be scary. The story has a dark sophistication that may appeal to adults, but is too intense for the youngest kids.
What's the story?
Young Lucy thinks that she hears wolves rustling inside the walls of her family's house. Her parents and brother disregard her concerns, telling her respectively that she must be hearing mice, rats, or bats. Each family member repeats an old saying to her, as well: "If the wolves come out of the walls, then it's all over." She has no idea what they are talking about. When it turns out that Lucy is correct and wolves do come out of the walls, the family must evacuate the house and live in the garden. The wolves eat their food, wear their clothes, and play with their belongings. Against her family's wishes, Lucy bravely returns to the house (hiding herself in the walls just as the wolves had) to retrieve her special stuffed pig. She then convinces her family that they must take back the house from the wolves. Again hiding in the walls, the four family members spring out on the unsuspecting wolves who howl: "The people have come out of the walls! And when the people come out of the walls...it's all over!"
The family moves back into their house, but at the end of the story Lucy is telling her toy pig that she hears elephants in the walls. The illustration on the last page shows that, again, she is correct.
Is it any good?
The atmosphere in this unsettling story is dark and eerie. There is an uncomfortable emotional disconnectedness between the family members and, while the collage artwork is certainly strikingly unusual and impressive, many of the images are scary. The characters have a weirdly vacant look. Inhabiting a world that is shadowy and mysterious looking, their actions and conversations are similarly disjointed and confusing. When the wolves appear in the story, they are drawn in a manic, cartoon style different from the human characters, but in some ways more frightening.
The narrative underpinnings of the story are sound and the story line moves in a neat circle. Lucy, the main character, can see and hear clearly what the rest of the family ignores, and she feels a terrible sense of isolation as a result. Perhaps young children in a similar situation would identify with her, but the action and images in the book are so distressing that there can be little understanding or comfort to be gained from this story. That the situation repeats in the end is clever, but, again, such a pessimistic conclusion for a children's picture book (Grimm's fairy tales notwithstanding) is worrying.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about belief, trust, and communication. How does Lucy feel when her family doesn't believe her about the wolves? Parents can also discuss the importance of keeping an open mind and being receptive to new ideas.
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Kid, 11 years old
December 21, 2010
AGE
Bad..makes wolves look evil..
NO makes wolves look evil which they are very very nice the drawings like the eyes creep me out though
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AGE
Oh no!
Are you kidding! You don't even know what's inside this book!
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AGE
Who wouldn't love this book?
Before I met my wife, I was in Boston in 1999, and Neil Gaiman read the audience, a room full of adults, this story. Now that I am a parent, my daughters love the story because it is *SO* much fun to read. It has a brave little girl (Which is rare, no princesses) silly sounds and a plot so strange, that your child would never be scared of the wolves coming out of the walls. The art is fabulous, as it breaks pre-held conceptions of children's book art and graphic design.
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AGE
Too scary and violent, don't waste your money
This book is scary and too violent for young children. The "jam" the wolves are eating looks like blood, and I'm sure the author intended it to be that way.
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| Author: | Neil Gaiman |
| Illustrator: | Dave McKean |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Picture Book |
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Children's Books |
| Publication date: | December 30, 2003 |
| Number of pages: | 56 |
| Hardcover price: | $16.99 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 4 - 7 |
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