Sell the cemetery? Over their dead bodies...Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell can. And he's got bad news for them: the council want to sell the cemetery as a building site. But the dead have learnt a thing or two from Johnny. They're not going to take it lying down ...especially since it's Halloween tomorrow. Besides, they're beginning to find that life is a lot more fun than it was when they were...well...alive. Particularly if they break a few rules ...
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"A humorous book, full of puns and asides, wittily and skilfully written . . . A delight of a book for any fluent teenage reader" (The School Librarian )
"Marvellous story . . . funny, poignant, angry, outrageous and moving . . . Terry Pratchett is simply the best there is" (Vector )
"A lovely, funny, witty, sometimes wise book, exciting and entertaining and always highly readable" (Junior Bookshelf )
"Entertaining fable" (Independent )
"With wonderfully colorful characters and a surprising ending, this story is one which readers will remember long after they have read the last page" (Through the Looking Glass 20080701) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"Marvellous story . . . funny, poignant, angry, outrageous and moving . . . Terry Pratchett is simply the best there is" (Vector )
"A lovely, funny, witty, sometimes wise book, exciting and entertaining and always highly readable" (Junior Bookshelf )
"Entertaining fable" (Independent )
"With wonderfully colorful characters and a surprising ending, this story is one which readers will remember long after they have read the last page" (Through the Looking Glass 20080701) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
The second hilarious fantasy novel about Johnny Maxwell from master storyteller Terry Pratchett - now available on CD read by Tony Robinson
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Johnny Maxwell is just a normal twelve-year old kid, or at least he tries to be. Things just seem to happen to him that don’t happen to anyone else—aliens inside a computer game surrender to him and name him their Chosen One, for example (as told in the first book of this series). Compared to that adventure, seeing dead people almost seems rather prosaic. The Trying Times Johnny has been living in have advanced past his parents’ shouting and Being Sensible About Things to Phase 3, which sees him now living with his grandfather. He often takes a short cut to school through a local cemetery, and it is there that he meets the Alderman, the long dead and buried Alderman. His friends Yo-less, Bigmac, and Wobbler can’t see dead people the way Johnny suddenly can, but events soon convince them that Johnny isn’t just fooling around with them. Johnny meets all of the dead people in the cemetery, all of whom are quite put out when they learn that their cemetery, a place which the rules of being dead say they cannot leave, has been sold by the city (for only five pence) to a corporation planning on building office buildings there. Since Johnny is the only human who can see them (and why Johnny can see them is rather a mystery, although the Alderman thinks it is because he is too lazy not to see them), the dead look to him to save their eternal resting place. Stopping a big corporation from doing something the city has granted them the legal right to do is no easy task, especially for a twelve-year-old boy and his friends, but Johnny is wonderfully resourceful.
The ending of this book didn’t have much spark to it, but overall Johnny and the Dead is an even better read than the first Johnny Maxwell novel Only You Can Save Mankind.
... Read more ›1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Johnny and his band of quirky pals are back in "Johnny and the Dead," the second book of Terry Pratchett's "Johnny Maxwell" trilogy. Pratchett was surer this time around, endowing this hilarious sequel with quirkier dialogue and stories, and snappier writing.
Johnny Maxwell sees dead people. (Yes, like the little boy in "Sixth Sense.") For whatever reason, he sees the dead in their graveyard -- not really ghosts, but not alive either: a crabby former soldier, a distant relative of Einstein, a sprightly suffragette who died in a freak mishap, and a staunch Communist who STILL doesn't believe in life after death. All in all, they are a fairly harmless bunch.
But a massive, mercenary, progress-obsessed corporation has just bought the graveyard for fivepence, and it will soon be razed for new construction. The only people more dismayed than the living inhabitants of Blackbury are the dead ones. So as the dead break their bonds to "unlive," Johnny and his friends will try to save the graveyard from... a fate worse than death?
Yes, it's the sort of bizarre, slightly twisted plot that only Terry Pratchett could cook up, and then pull off. And yes, the same could be said of "Only You Can Save Mankind." But by the time he wrote this -- pre-Discworld -- Pratchett had obviously grown into his skills.
In particular, the Big Message in this book is more subtle -- that money and progress aren't worth anything if they destroy the past. Despite that heavy moral, the handling of it is light and entertatining, such as when the dead Communist calls up a radio talk show host and speaks frankly about being "vertically challenged.... Read more ›
Johnny Maxwell sees dead people. (Yes, like the little boy in "Sixth Sense.") For whatever reason, he sees the dead in their graveyard -- not really ghosts, but not alive either: a crabby former soldier, a distant relative of Einstein, a sprightly suffragette who died in a freak mishap, and a staunch Communist who STILL doesn't believe in life after death. All in all, they are a fairly harmless bunch.
But a massive, mercenary, progress-obsessed corporation has just bought the graveyard for fivepence, and it will soon be razed for new construction. The only people more dismayed than the living inhabitants of Blackbury are the dead ones. So as the dead break their bonds to "unlive," Johnny and his friends will try to save the graveyard from... a fate worse than death?
Yes, it's the sort of bizarre, slightly twisted plot that only Terry Pratchett could cook up, and then pull off. And yes, the same could be said of "Only You Can Save Mankind." But by the time he wrote this -- pre-Discworld -- Pratchett had obviously grown into his skills.
In particular, the Big Message in this book is more subtle -- that money and progress aren't worth anything if they destroy the past. Despite that heavy moral, the handling of it is light and entertatining, such as when the dead Communist calls up a radio talk show host and speaks frankly about being "vertically challenged.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a supurb introduction for anybody who is new to Terry, although reading Only You Can Save Mankind first would be advisable. It contains all that makes a good pratchett book including some dead funny (Pun intended) jokes to boot. Ever if you are older and a fan of his discworld series i would still recomend that you read this book as it is not one to be missed and neither are the other 2 in his "Johnny" series . This has been televised and it is easy to see why. a supurb and original plot line about a boy and his dead friend, this is one of the best childrens book that i have ever read and i recomend you to read it too!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book stands out in Pratchett's trilogy of books about Johnny Maxwell. Pratchett tackles the subject of life after death in an entertaining and on the whole reassuring way. I enjoyed the humour and the undemanding quality of the writing. I would recommend this book for any age group; my only concern would be for someone who had a suicide in the family, as Pratchett shows little sympathy for people who have taken their own lives. This is a book I return to again and again.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio Cassette
My twin sons and I listened to the audio version of this book each morning during our twenty minute ride to their school. They were spellbound by it. Mr. Pratchett does a marvelous job of developing his characters and Mr. Mitchely has an uncanny ability to bring those characters to life with different voices. Even the occasional pause to explain a "Britishism" did not take away from our enjoyment of this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Two Tone Tony
Amazing story, sadly let down by Tony Robinson, who as always sounds like he has just turned up read the book and left, money please.
Published 18 months ago by Smally
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing and fun.
An intriguing book.There is a good amount of the humour for which Pratchett is famous, and some fairly deep points to ponder. Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2009 by Mr. M. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars
Johnny and the Dead - Playscript
We are currently doing this in our English class and it is amazing! I had read some of Terry Pratchett's books before but never the Johnny Maxwell one's. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2007 by Rat
4.0 out of 5 stars
Living it up (with the dead)
Johnny and his band of quirky pals are back in "Johnny and the Dead," the second book of Terry Pratchett's "Johnny Maxwell" trilogy. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2006 by E. A Solinas
4.0 out of 5 stars
Live it up with the dead
Johnny and his band of quirky pals are back in "Johnny and the Dead," the second book of Terry Pratchett's "Johnny Maxwell" trilogy. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2006 by E. A Solinas
5.0 out of 5 stars
More hilarious antics from Johnny Maxwell and freinds.
Read it in a day, just couldn't put it down. The second in the series (see Only You Can Save Mankind)about Johnny and his fantastic group of freinds. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2002 by R Jacob
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nearly as good as saving mankind
This is cute, funny, and inventive, and I love Johnny and his weirdo friends. But why, oh, why isn't this as good as when he was saving mankind? Maybe it's me. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2001
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bloody good book
This book is very gripping and it keeps you reading on by explaining the characters even more during nearly the whole book, also theirs adventurers every page! Read more
Published on 30 April 2001
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