(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Dave McKean. When a "crack in the sky, shaped like a V" appears above human boy Lucky's home on remote moon Phoenix, his terrified mother bundles him away on a ship with alien Axxa for a clandestine journey through the universe--and into the human-vs.-Axxa war. McKean's trippy black-and-white illustrations evoke reverence for the expansive universe and play with Said's unique, staccato text.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Dave McKean. The gods have abandoned their work with "still much making to be done." Little Ben is first to notice; soon he, Sue, and Harry are dreaming up creatures and piecing them together--first a mouse and a bird, then a more problematic snake, a terrifying wolf, etc. McKean expertly matches his angular figures to Almond's children, with their perilous mix of innocence, naiveté, and power.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2013

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Dave McKean. When Slog points out his father on a park bench, Davie is skeptical: Slog's dad has been dead for months. In the end, what Davie thinks is true isn't as important as what Slog needs to believe. Interspersed with moody pictorial segments, Almond's elegiac short story, in thick British dialect, sensitively explores grief, acceptance, and closure.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Dave McKean. Bonnie comments on the narrator's "crazy hair," and he responds with fanciful descriptions of its many denizens ("...Gorillas leap, / Tigers stalk, / And ground sloths sleep"). Bonnie combs the hair, whereupon "one huge arm" pulls her in. McKean's psychedelically colored illustrations, framed by textured swirls, caverns, and landscapes of hair, are a striking complement to Gaiman's fantastical text.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(2) YA Illustrated by Dave McKean. After his father's death, Blue Baker writes a story about a savage kid. The line between fantasy and reality blurs when the savage visits a bully who has been hounding Blue. This illustrated novella, a graphic novel within a novel, will satisfy Almond's fans and newcomers alike. McKean's illustrations--ink and watercolor in black, blues, and greens--add an appropriately eerie touch.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2008

(1) YA Illustrated by Dave McKean. After fortuitously escaping the murder of his family, a toddler is taken in by the ghostly denizens of a local graveyard. Growing up in this strange setting entails many adventures, leading to a final showdown with the murderer. Occasional art enhances the otherworldly atmosphere with a flowing line and deep grays and blacks. This ghost-story-cum-coming-of-age novel is both bittersweet and action-filled.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2008

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Dave McKean. This edition of Gaiman's creepy tale about a girl's parallel-world adventure includes an eight-page color insert (rather garish compared to McKean's nuanced black-and-white drawings, but otherwise innocuous) of still images from the Coraline stop-motion animated movie. Notes from Gaiman and from director/screenwriter Henry Selick plus an excerpt of the screenplay are appended.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Dave McKean. No one in Lucy's family believes her when she says that she hears wolves inside the walls of their house, but of course she ends up being right. The story is wholly original, and there's no denying the care taken with the mixed-media illustrations. But the book proves overwritten, and the brooding images, featuring sympathetic human characters with dot eyes set on otherwise realistic faces, seem gratuitously creepy.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Dave McKean. In this cat fantasy, Varjak struggles to survive among cat street gangs. In his dreams, he finds himself in Mesopotamia, where his progenitor instructs him in the lost skills of the Way of Jalal, a martial art-like practice. Two-color illustrations provide the edgy feel of a graphic novel. Readers interested in graphic novels or martial arts may find this book right up their alley.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2003

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Dave McKean. Coraline passes through a door in the drawing room of her new home to a very similar house with an "other mother" and an "other father." What started out as a world set slightly askew turns nightmarish as Coraline joins the creepy other mother in a game of hide-and-seek for her real parents--winner take all. The danger and the heroine are convincing; the whirlwind denouement will leave readers bemused but elated and slightly breathless.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002