Unnatural Creatures: Stories Selected by Neil Gaiman

Gaiman gathers 16 stories featuring magical beasts and monsters--dangerous ones, mostly--as a benefit volume for a creative writing program, 826 DC. The Newbery winner contributes his name and selection duties, a short preface, quick introductions to the tales and a previously published short--an homage to R.A. Lafferty featuring a captured phoenix and a jaded group of epicures--to the project. Other entries, all but three of which are reprints, range from Frank R. Stockton's "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" and other older classics to Peter S. Beagle's eerily elegant "Come Lady Death," Avram Davidson's chilling closet fantasy "Or All the Seas with Oysters," a Chrestomanci tale from Diana Wynne Jones and artfully discomfiting contributions from younger writers (including the co-editor). Each opens with a small, dark, fine-grained image of a creature or partial figure that sets an appropriately ominous tone for what follows. Light on new material but solid choices overall--recommended for daylight reading only. (author bios) (Short stories. 10-14)

Grades 8-12. From darkly menacing to bizarrely surreal, these 16 fantasy stories featuring mythical and imaginary creatures combine work from such luminaries as Saki, E. Nesbit, and Anthony Boucher, as well as more contemporary writers. Larry Niven’s The Flight of the Horse is on the sillier side of the spectrum: a time traveler is sent to the past to retrieve a horse, which he has never seen except in picture books, and he mistakenly returns with a unicorn instead. In Nalo Hopkinson’s A Smile on the Face, a self-conscious girl is bullied for her size and pressured into an unwanted sexual encounter, but she finds inner strength—and an inner fire-breathing monster—thanks to an accidentally swallowed cherry pit from the hamadryad in her front yard. Gaiman’s contribution, Sunbird, recounts the adventures of the Epicurean Club members, who, grown bored after tasting every available thing on the planet, enjoy the best (and last) meal of their lives. In true Gaiman fashion, these stories are macabre, subversive, and just a little bit sinister. His fans will eat this up—ravenously. 

These thirteen previously published stories and three new tales all feature "unnatural creatures along with several other creatures who are either unlikely, impossible, or do not exist at all." Each selection, by such writers as Nnedi Okorafor, Larry Niven, and Diana Wynne Jones, is introduced by Gaiman, and his chatty and enlightening anecdotes are worth the price of admission.

Gr 9 Up--The 16 short stories in this anthology contain accounts of delightfully fantastical creatures, ranging from the familiar (werewolves, mermaids, griffins, and unicorns) to the chillingly mysterious (an ever-expanding, flesh-eating blob; a strange bird that spurs unpredictable changes to its surroundings; and even Death herself). Classic science fiction and fantasy authors Anthony Boucher, Frank R. Stockton, Peter S. Beagle, E. Nesbit, and Diana Wynne Jones are represented, as are contemporary authors such as Nnedi Okorafor, E. Lily Yu, and Gaiman himself. From the first page, Gaiman appeals to a sense of imagination, prefacing each story with a brief personal commentary, causing readers to stop and ponder questions they never knew they had. Who would a griffin eat? What does a phoenix taste like? What happens when you question an invisible dragon? Why are there always too many coat hangers? All of these questions, and more, are answered here. Some of the stories are silly, some heartbreaking, and some profound, but all are guaranteed to make readers' hair stand on end.--Liz Overberg, Darlington Middle School, Rome, GA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"In true Gaiman fashion, these stories are macabre, subversive, and just a little bit sinister. His fans will eat this up—ravenously."—Booklist