Neil Gaiman/Chris Riddell 3-Book Box Set: Coraline; The Graveyard Book; Fortunately, the Milk

Illustrations can make or break a book's experience -- good ones will enhance the book's atmosphere, and bad ones will wreck your ability to envision what the author describes. Fortunately, Neil Gaiman has connected with some great illustrators over the years. And one of the illustrators who best works with Gaiman is Chris Riddell, who has illustrated the three books in this collection: the whimsical "Fortunately the Milk," eerie children's horror story "Coraline," and the elegant, gothic "The Graveyard Book" (which won the Newbury Award). All three books are enchanting on their own, and Riddell's illustrations perfectly fit Gaiman's eerie, eccentric writing style. "Fortunately the Milk" skews the youngest of the three stories (despite some jokes clearly intended for the grown-ups), and is possibly the most exciting story about buying milk since... ever. It's also the one in which Riddell's illustrations shine the most, since the whimsical, oddball story lends itself well to the charmingly exaggerated black-and-white pictures. In the story, a family has run out of milk. The mother is away at a conference, and the kids are unable to eat their Toastios... and when the dad comes back, he doesn't have milk. Why? The answer is an increasingly convoluted tale of abduction by globby green aliens, the Queen of the Pirates, piranhas, the time-trabeling Professor Steg’s Floaty-Ball-Person-Carrier, the barbaric followers of Splod, ponies, vampires, the Galactic Police, and countless other obstacles that threaten to keep him from getting home with the milk. "Coraline" follows a girl who has recently moved into a dull new apartment, with parents who ignore her and neighbors who are either insane or boring. It's the sort of relentlessly dull world that any little girl would want to escape from -- until Coraline does. She encounters a formerly bricked-up door that leads into an apartment in another world, which looks eerily like her own. In fact, it's so similar that she has a taloned, button-eyed "other mother" and matching "other father," as well as a chorus of singing, dancing rats and magical toys. But soon she discovers the horrors that lurk in this Other world, and what will happen if she can't defeat the Other Mother. In "The Graveyard Book," Nobody Owens' family was murdered by a mysterious assassin -- but he was spared because he wandered down into the graveyard. The mysterious Silas (the only one who can leave the graveyard) takes charge of the baby, and he is raised by the ghosts who dwell there. In the years that follow, Bod has many terrifying and wondrous adventures -- involving a witch's ghost, the Sleer, ghouls, dancing the Macabray, and his eccentric teacher Miss Lupesceau. But the man who murdered his family is still after Bod, as well as the only human friend he's ever had. The "Neil Gaiman/Chris Riddell 3-Book Box Set" shows off the full range of Gaiman's writing ability -- a wacky, whimsical story about the ultimate tall tale, a delicately poetic urban-gothic, and a cobwebby, skin-crawling horror story. He has the knack for incorporating the whimsical and fantastical (even if it's obviously a lie, like in "Fortunately the Milk") into the ordinary world, and making it totally believable that an ordinary apartment building could lead to a place of eldritch horrors. His wordcraft is absolutely exquisite, whether it's being silly ("How does a volcano know so much about transtemporal meta-science?”) or injecting poetry into horror ("A husk you'll be, a wisp you'll be, and a thing no more than a dream on waking, or a memory of something forgotten"). He also comes up with some truly charming characters, from the erudite volcano god to the sternly paternal vampire Silas, from the sensible Coraline to the earnest Bod. And of course, the time-tripping dad (who looks oddly like Gaiman himself). And Chris Riddell's illustrations are a delicate but definite enhancement to the stories. His black-and-white drawings are mostly lifelike, but slightly exaggerated (giant pirate hats, thuggy-looking faces) with lots of long lanky limbs, trailing cloth and pointed faces. And there are subtle differences in each book, depending on what the theme is -- "Fortunately, The Milk" is sillier-looking (it has a stegosaurus in a lab coat!), while "Graveyard Book" is delicate and haunting. The "Neil Gaiman/Chris Riddell 3-Book Set" is a good exploration of both men's considerable talents. Gaiman's exquisite writing and Riddell's delicate pictures complement each other perfectly, and any bibliophile child will adore these stories.

What a beautiful book set! Chris Riddell's amazing line illustrations are a perfect match for Gaiman's ever-so-slightly creepy stories. Coraline: You may have already seen the film, but this is about a little girl named Coraline, who finds a door in her house that leads to another world that is just like her own, only way more exciting. It's inhabited by copies of people who reside in Coraline's real world, and they are all created by her "Other Mother," who eventually tells Coraline that she wants her to stay with her forever. Choices, choices. What will Coraline decide to do, and what will be the consequences of those choices? And what has happened to her real parents? Fortunately, the Milk: While aimed at a very young audience, this is a very creative book that is rather entertaining. Imagine that you go out to the store to buy milk for your kids' breakfast cereal, only your journey is filled with unexpected adventures and unusual characters that pretty much do everything in their power to keep you from getting home. Does Dad ever make it home with the milk? The Graveyard Book: A young boy's family is murdered in their beds by a man in black, but somehow the little tyke makes it out of his house and toddles into the nearby graveyard, where he is adopted by the ghosts who live there. I loved this book. Every twist and turn in the story line was wholly unexpected and very unusual. Above all, it held my attention from start to finish.

Neil Gaiman es uno de nuestros escritores favoritos. Compré este set para mi hijo de 9 años y nos ha encantado, las ilustraciones son muy bonitas, la letra es de un tamaño adecuado para que la lean adultos y niños y la presentación de los libros en general es muy linda. Lo recomiendo mucho, también sería un muy buen regalo para niños entre los 6 y 11 años. Los libros están escritos en inglés.

Nice book it came early and in good condition the drawing are very pretty and well done.

Perfect condition and fantastic book set!

Adorei. O inglês é bem complicado, se você não é falante nativo, vai encontrar muitas palavras novas e especificas. A qualidade da página e capa e todo o resto não é das melhores, mas é bem melhor do que os livros da editora Principia. Fora que estava bem barato.