Instructions (original 2010; edition 2010)

Charming poem and beautifully detailed illustrations make this Neil Gaiman book a delightful, hypnotic read! So glad I discovered it on a display in the library! ( )

This was a neat kind of book, written in the second person and seemed to sum up a lot of fairy tale cliches and common themes in a few short pages. It was fun and simple and if it had been any longer it would have been going into overkill. I liked it as it was. ( )

Rich in fairy-tale allusions, and proffering a wealth of advice for the hero upon his archetypal journey, Neil Gaiman's poem Instructions - which first appeared in the fantasy collection A Wolf at the Door: and Other Retold Fairy Tales, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling - has been remade here as a picture-book, with artwork by Charles Vess. The result is an engaging journey into a landscape that readers of the genre will recognize immediately, and a celebration of all the terrors and joys to be found therein.

Although I enjoyed the poem, its strength, for me, lay chiefly in the allusions, from the mention of the twelve months sitting around the fire (see: Samuil Marshak's The Month-Brothers: A Slavic Tale, or Rafe Martin's Twelve Months), to the description of the dangers of spewing diamonds and roses (see: Charlotte Huck's Toads and Diamonds). As a narrative, it was somewhat lacking, and sometimes felt a little disjointed (yes, even as a poem), but I was willing to forgive that, because of my enjoyment of the references, and the artwork by Vess. Recommended to fairy-tale readers, and to fans of Gaiman and/or Vess. ( )

This is a magical poetic guide for any child who has dreamed of traveling into fairyland. Although one might encounter dangers there, they are not serious, especially if you follow the simple instructions.

The illustrations by Charles Vess evoke the settings of fairy tales past, with recognizable characters and settings.

The words by Gaiman harken back to A.A. Milne and Lewis Carroll, both of whom also issued exhortations to help children avoid getting eaten by bears and such. Gaiman advises:

"Remember your name.
Do not lose hope – what you seek will be found.
Trust ghosts.
Trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn.
Trust dreams.
Trust your heart, and trust your story.
Do not forget your manners.
Do not look back.
Ride the wise eagle (you shall not fall).
Ride the silver fish (you will not drown)."

Discussion: Gaiman’s instructions are a bit more mystical than A.A. Milne’s, but still, I think you can see the parallels in this excerpt from the poem "Lines and Squares":

"Whenever I walk in a London street,
I'm ever so careful to watch my feet;
And I keep in the squares,
And the masses of bears,
Who wait at the corners all ready to eat
The sillies who tread on the lines of the street,
Go back to their lairs,
And I say to them, "Bears,
just look how i'm walking in all the squares!"

Similarly, Gaiman’s words remind me of the wonderful exhortations by Lewis Carroll in “Rules and Regulations,” as is shown in this excerpt:

"Drink tea, not coffee;
Never eat toffy.
Eat bread with butter.
Once more, don't stutter.
Don't waste your money,
Abstain from honey.
Shut doors behind you,
(Don't slam them, mind you.)
Drink beer, not porter.
Don't enter the water
Till to swim you are able.
Sit close to the table.
Take care of a candle.
Shut a door by the handle,
Don't push with your shoulder
Until you are older.
Lose not a button.
Refuse cold mutton.
Starve your canaries.
Believe in fairies.
If you are able,
Don't have a stable
With any mangers.
Be rude to strangers."

Evaluation: If you have a child that dreams of other worlds, this might prove to be the perfect little guidebook.

Product Details

Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Hardcover: 40 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061960306
ISBN-13: 978-0061960307 ( )

This is Neil Gaiman's poem, "Instructions" bound as a picture book and illustrated by Charles Vess.

I love this.

I have to admit that when I first came across Gaiman's poem in Fragile Things, I read it, thought it was pretty cool, and moved on, both in the book and in my head. It wasn't until I met Charles Vess at a book signing for Drawing Down the Moon and he told us about this project that I really got excited about the whole thing. He had prints of his artwork for us to look at. As I flipped through them, I knew this was going to be something special.

And it is.

Basically instructions for surviving a fairy tale, Gaiman weaves many themes into this short-ish poem. Help who you can. Don't trust those who seem untrustworthy. Trust yourself. Come home at the end.

And suddenly you realize that he could be (is?) talking about how to live your life well. And you are reminded again what a master Gaiman is.

As for the illustrations--perfection.

I love Vess's artwork. It has such a perfect fairy tale feel to it. And when you sit down to really look at just one of these illustrations, you are blown away by the amount of subtle detail worked in.

I highly, highly recommend this. Children will love it, and so will readers of any age who understand that the truest advice can be found in "children's books." ( )