Neil Gaiman finally got a Newberry Medalfor his new book: The Graveyard Book.
I’ve been wanting to read this for awhile. Now I’m going to have to.
I heard that on NPR this morning. Good for him. 
That’s awesome. I’ve never been a comic book fan at all. Then several years ago a friend recommended Sandman. I was blown away. Got all of the trade collections (isn’t that what they are called?) pretty much one right after another, I was burning through them so fast. So far I’ve read through them twice.
Recently I started getting The Ultimate Sandman, which I recommend. They are 4 volumes, I think, leather bound and high quality print. once I get all 4 I’ll read through the series again.
Anyone read American Gods? It was good, but not Sandman good. Coraline was pretty good too. I hope the movie gets him more notoriety. Then man is a genius.
I love Gaiman and I particularly loved The Graveyard Book, so this is exciting. Yay!
Just ordered the book online. Haven’t heard the NPR piece on it, but my son did. He said that Neil had was pleased, seeing the award as evidence that at least one of his books is likely to be read after he’s gone.
I’m really looking forward to reading it.
What is a Newberry Medal? If The Graveyard Book is a comic book then awesome. His prose is terrible IMO. Sandman is great, American Gods was trite.
It’s prose. The Newberry is the most prestigious children’s book award around.
In America, anyway. Other countries have their own.
I enjoyed reading Gaiman’s blog entry yesterday.
Like Harlan Ellison ( but not as extreme ), IMO Gaiman seems to be better at short forms than novels. For example I think Coraline ( novella ) or A Study in Emerald ( short story ) are easily better than any of his longer works.
His success as a comic book writer I think plays into that.
Oh, yeah, that. Sometimes I forget not everybody is an American.
It’s given out by a committee within the American Library Association.
Yes this is great for him. Many libraries automatically add the award winners to their collections.
You guys might also be interested to know that Terry Pratchett was noted for his new novel Nation; It’s a runner-up for one of the Young Adult prizes, I think. It’s listed on the ALA website.
You say that he “finally got a Newbery Medal,” but has he written any other children’s books?
If anyone hasn’t read his blog entry about this, it’s very amusing.
Sure. Coraline is supposed to be a children’s book, presumably of the pants-wetting kind. He also wrote a children’s book for some sort of free book day across the pond.
ETA - I forgot The Wolves in the Walls, too.
ETAA - also, it’s the Newbery Medal. Whoops. Sorry, Mr. Newbery.
There’s also:
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
The Dangerous Alphabet
Odd and the Frost Giants
and
MirrorMask: Children’s Edition. Possibly others.
never mind - mistaken post
Good for him. I chatted with him briefly on Compuserve back in the day when the internet was new enough that people weren’t getting constantly harassed and were more amenable to speaking to their fans.
I’m a bit struck by the word “finally” in the OP since Gaiman has only written two novels for children, both in this century, and won for his second, but I’ll let it pass. He’s a very good writer, and although I typically like the stories of lives changed and careers transformed by winning this award, and giving it to a very successful rock star writer who write kids books on the side deprives me of that, he’s a damned good writer and if he wrote the best kids book of the year, so be it. He’s certainly not some guy who’s been toiling unappreciated for years and years exclusively on children’s books, influencing a generation of writers for young people. If say, Daniel Manus Pinkwater, won, then we can say “FINALLY” and mean it.
Incidentally, I was in the room when they announced it! I just got back from ALA last night.
His other books for children are all picture books, which are not omitted from Newbery consideration but absolutely never win because they have their own award, The Caldecott.
I’m wondering if Gaiman is the first British author to win the award. Because it’s for American books, it would only be given to a Brit expat like Gaiman. There might be others, I’m simply not sure. Hugh Lofting, maybe? :checks wikipedia: yep. Hugh Lofting was originally a Brit, so Neil is not the first Brit to win the award. Never mind.
Susan Cooper is British too, I know.
“Coraline” made me scared to take the trash out at night. I loved it. I’ll have to check this one out, too. (By the way, I hated the Sandman comics.)