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, for example, that 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! (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson

Product Description

There are sneaking,
creeping, crumpling
noises coming from
inside the walls.

Lucy is sure there are wolves living in the walls of their house -- and, as everybody says, if the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over. Her family doesn't believe her. Then one day, the wolves come out.

But it's not all over. Instead, Lucy's battle with the wolves is only just beginning.

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 all over   February 7, 2004
 23 out of 25 found this review helpful

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.


Even better than expected!   November 10, 2003
 20 out of 20 found this review helpful

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?


Funny. Not Scary   September 17, 2003
 18 out of 21 found this review helpful

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.


Dark Modern Fairy Tale with Superb Illustrations   January 11, 2004
 16 out of 18 found this review helpful

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!!!