I know I’m a little late in saying this…
I am absolutely thrilled that Neil Gaiman has won the Booktrust Teenage Prize for The Graveyard Book.
I was first given one of Gaiman’s graphic novels as a present from a friend when I was 16. I still have my battered copy of Death on our bookshelves and a lot more Gaiman books have gathered around it, but I particularly love The Graveyard Book.
It’s the type of read that makes me laugh out loud when I try and think how the author came up with the idea behind it and thank my lucky stars that some people do just think of these things and go with them!
There’s an interesting article in the Telegraph that talks of Rudyard Kipling’s obvious influence on Gaiman when writing The Graveyard Book.
And of course there are lots more articles and news snippets around all toasting his success:
BBC
The Guardian
The Bookseller
The big question is, which version did you get? Illustrated by Chris Riddell or David McKean? A fan of both but I went for McKean. I loved his work on David Almond’s The Savage and something about his artwork for this cover reminded me of Stephen King and as its all a little bit Stephen King at the moment, I went for that version.
And just because I love it so, here’s a picture from the Coraline movie.
The Chris Riddell one. It captures the mood of the book so well. I love it (and I have to say McKean’s illustrations scare me slightly!)
McKean is scary. Possibly why I like him so much – I do love a good scare! It was a tough choice and the Chris Riddell cover is gorgeous. So glad that they published with two and started a discussion!