#64 in Humour
Johnny and the Dead
- 208
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Johnny and the Dead” shows Terry Pratchett at his gentlest, in a funny and thoughtful children’s novel about honouring the past. Johnny Maxwell can see and talk to the people buried in his local cemetery, and when their resting place is threatened he takes up their cause. Some readers find it bittersweet as much as comic; others value its quiet case for memory and tradition. It is the middle book of the Johnny Maxwell trilogy.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Johnny and the Dead is a 1993 fantasy children's novel by English author Terry Pratchett, the second of Pratchett's novels to feature the character Johnny Maxwell. The other novels in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy are Only You Can Save Mankind (1992) and Johnny and the Bomb (1996). In this story, Johnny sees and speaks with the spirits of those interred in his local cemetery and tries to help them when their home is threatened.
Reading order · Johnny Maxwell trilogy
Full order & progress →- Only You Can Save MankindStart here
7.57.5 / 10 - Johnny and the DeadThis book
7.87.8 / 10 - Johnny and the Bomb
7.67.6 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 69 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 32% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Humour average of 7.8. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.8 | 5 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 7.5 | 64 | 93% |
Frequently asked
What age is Johnny and the Dead for?
Johnny and the Dead sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 208 pages — shorter than 73% of the ranked books in Humour.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Humour — with scores between 7.2 and 8.0, closest to this book.
