CMIS Evaluation Fiction Focus

Although not an occasion widely celebrated in Australia, Hallowe’en later this week does give the opportunity for the telling of spooky tales. And what spookier, yet what more literary than The Graveyard Book? Since its publication just over a year ago, it has garnered many awards, and Neil Gaiman has become the must-have author at any literary event. Fortunately for us, Australian readers caught him before Gaiman-fever really took off, with Neil being a guest at the 2008 Children’s Book Council of Australia National Conference in Melbourne, All the Wild Wonders. Once seen, once heard, never forgotten. He will be appearing at the Singapore Writers Festival on November 1, talking about graphic novels and fantasy.

Dig deeper

The author

• Neil Gaiman’s website
• Neil Gaiman’s UK website
• Neil Gaiman’s journal
• Neil Gaiman on Twitter
• Biography (from Biography Base)

The text

• Extract
• The book’s website
• MouseCircus : Neil Gaiman’s 2008 Video Tour (a chapter a city, with the entire book read by Neil in eight videos with five Q & A sessons)
• Wikipedia entry (does it need input?)
• Why the two illustrators? (Dave McKean and Chris Riddell)
• Reading Guide
• Teaching Guide

Reviews

• CMIS review
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• School Library Journal
• New York Times

Articles and interviews

• Scottish Book Trust (audio file)
• Neil Gaiman on The Colbert Report (very droll video)
• One Foot in the Graveyard (The Scotsman)
• It’s Good to be Gaiman (School Library Journal)
• ArtsBeat, PBS (audio file)
• 10 Questions with Neil Gaiman (GoodReads)
• Neil Gaiman: The most famous writer you’ve never heard of (sic) (Times Online)
• Neil Gaiman on Fame and The Graveyard Book (Toronto Star)
• Pre-Graveyard Book interview in January Magazine, in which J K Rowling and questions of borrowed ideas are discussed
• Interview with Dave McKean (illustrator)
• Graveyard Book a Vote for Populism (Guardian, 27 January 2009)

Awards

• Newbery Medal 2009
• Hugo Award 2009, Best Novel
• ALA Notable Children’s Book (Middle Readers) 2009
• ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice 2009
• Listed ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2009
• Horn Book Fanfare: Best Books of 2008 List
• Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Books of 2008
• Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice 2009
• New York Public Library Stuff for the Teen Age 2009
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award 2009 list
• New York Public Library’s ‘One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing‘ 2008 – Older Readers
• Shortlist Booktrust Teenage Prize 2009
• Shortlist British Fantasy Awards Best Novel 2009
• Finalist Cybils Awards – Science Fiction and Fantasy – 2008
• Finalist World Fantasy Awards Best Novel 2009
• Finalist Los Angeles Times Book Prize 2009 – Young Adult Literature
• Finalist Amelia Elizabeth Waldren Award 2009

The film

• Gaiman calls Neil Jordan Perfect Director (Wired)
• From Page to Screen (SciFiMoviePage)
• IMDB in development entry (watch this space)

Other books by Neil Gaiman

• Reviews of some of his titles  in the CMIS database

Come, dance The Macabray.

This entry was posted on October 27, 2009 at 7:10 am and is filed under literature promotion. Tagged: booktrailers, NeilGaiman, TrailerTuesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.