What I'm Reading : Children’s Books.

I have recently finished reading two fantasy/horror novels, both aimed at 10-12 year-olds.  One I read on purpose and the other inadvertently.

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman.  I am not entirely sure how I managed to completely miss this novel when it came out in hardcover in 2008, as Gaiman is one of my favourite authors.  (Coincidentally, he was on The Simpsons tonight.)  The book follows the adventures of Bod (short for Nobody) Owens, an orphan raised by the denizens of the local cemetery.  Each chapter stands up generally on its own, and follows a self-contained adventure involving Bod, at various ages, his keepers and/or humans from the neighbouring village.  The last two chapters bring the overall back-story, which had been hinted at in the background of the previous chapters, to a conclusion.

The Graveyard Book is written in a light, sparse and direct style, which is very fitting for the type of modern fairy tale that Gaiman is weaving.  The novel is somewhat different in tone than Coraline, Gaiman’s previous children’s novel, also a gothic fantasy.  Coraline (as far as I remember) was seeking a new, more welcoming family, which led to her adventures, whereby Bod is clearly at home with the village that is raising him.  While lighter in tone, however, The Graveyard Book does veer into a much darker, ‘real-life’ conclusion.

I enjoyed The Graveyard Book, but what I would have rather been reading is a new ‘adult’ novel by Neil Gaiman.  The Doctor’s Wife was great, he is a constant and interesting presence on Twitter and I’m sure he’s enjoying recording and touring with his wife and raising bees in Minnesota, but I really wish he would come out with a new novel…

The Gates, by John Connolly.  I picked this up at the Harvard Coop Book Store when I was in Boston in early October.  There was a write-up posted, supposedly by one of the staff, (the type of write-up that used to seem clever when independent stores started doing this about 15 years ago, but is now clearly a marketing trick as each and every bookstore, whether independent or a chain, now features them) that recommended this book, and described the style as being in line with Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.  That was enough to sell me on the book.  What the write-up cleverly avoided mentioning was that this is a book aimed at 10-12 year-olds.  Only when I picked it up at home and bothered reading the jacket did I notice that many of the reviews quoted mentioned how the book would be a great hit in middle school and with ‘young adults and fans alike’.  Well, I figured at least I could probably get through it…

The Gates tells the story of Samuel Johnson, a clever and somewhat precocious 11-year-old, who discovers that his neighbours have inadvertently opened a portal to the gates of Hell.  Also, some astrophysicists from CERN get involved.  Samuel is a fun character who is much more befuddled by the behaviour of the adults around him than by the events (and the demons) that are unleashed by his neighbours.  I appreciated Samuel, the characters created by Connolly, who are at times quirky, in a very English way and the overall supernatural storyline.  In that way, I can understand how the supposed bookstore clerk evoked Pratchett and Adams, although I would not quite put The Gates in the same rarefied air as their work.  The Gates was well-written and interesting enough that I will, at some point, look into Connolly’s ‘adult’ work, evidently mostly crime thrillers.