The Wolves in the Walls

**Wolves in the Walls** is a 2003 picture book by writer Neil Gaiman and illustrator Dave McKean. A surreal tale of wolves that lived within the walls and then took over the house and temporarily forced its inhabitants out. The book gained great popularity, was translated into foreign languages, and a successful children's musical was staged based on it.

The design of the book is interesting because McKean used various techniques to create illustrations: both ordinary drawings and computer graphics and photographs. According to Gaiman, the plot of the book was suggested to him by his daughter, who, at the age of four, had a terrible dream about wolves living in the walls.

The book was translated into German, Spanish, Italian, Polish and other languages. The Russian translation of the book by Maxim Nemtsov was published in 2014 by the Livebook.

## Plot

One evening, the girl Lucy hears strange noises coming from the walls in the house. She believes that wolves live in the walls and talks about it to her mother (who fills jars with homemade jam), her father (who plays the tuba), her younger brother (who plays video games).

All of them, however, do not believe Lucy: mother says that they are mice, father that they are rats, and brother that they are bats. In addition, they are all sure that “when wolves crawl out of the walls, that’s all!”.

However, the next day, wolves do break out of the walls and take over the house, while Lucy and her family huddle in the garden. They discuss where they should live now - at the North Pole, in the Sahara desert, in outer space? Lucy, having forgotten her favorite pig toy in the room, sneaks into the house inside the walls and takes it.

The next evening, the family is still hesitant to enter the house, but Lucy invites everyone to go and spend the night there by walking inside the walls. The family does just that, seeing what the wolves are doing in the house (they watch TV at full volume, eat jam, throwing leftovers everywhere, dance). Unable to stand it, Lucy and her family take chair legs and chase away the wolves, who are horrified that people have come out of the wall.

The family moves back into their home, cleaning up the mess. But after a while, Lucy begins to think that elephants have now settled behind the wall.

## Adaptaitions

In 2006, "The Wolves in the Walls" was adapted for the stage as a musical called "The Wolves in the Walls: Musical Pandemonium." It had music by Nick Powell, with some lyrics contributed by Neil Gaiman. The stage adaptation was co-produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and Improbable Theatre.

It premiered at the Tramway in Glasgow in March 2006 and then toured the UK for the rest of the year. The production won the TMA Best Show for Children and Young People award in 2006. In October 2007, it was staged off Broadway at the New Victory Theater in New York for a two-week run, and it was well received by audiences and critics.

## Infobox (book)

- **name**: The Wolves in the Walls
- **author**: Neil Gaiman
- **illustrator**: Dave McKean
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **genre**: Children's literature, Children's
- **publisher**: HarperCollins
- **pub date**: 5 August 2003
- **pages**: 56
- **media type**: Hardcover
- **isbn**: 0-380-97827-X