Rating: 
Summary: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Review: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories is a great book for anyone who is a fan of Burton's, into humorously demonic things, or just likes a good laugh. It is written for many people at the ages of ten and up. It's easy reading and enjoyable. I really loved this book because not only did it come from a great mind but was funny, cute, and in a way scary at the same time. Tim Burton is a great writer. If you liked Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, you will surely love this book. I encourage you to read it, its worth your time.
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Summary: Weird but Wonderful Burton
Review: I was lucky enough to have a co-worker share this book with me. A collection of Tim Burton's short macabre stories with his own illustrations, written for more adult readers than children. For the example the title story regarding "Oyster Boy" features a bizarre ending in which the father eats his son to better his lackluster sex life with his wife. In "Robot Boy" a women gives birth to a boy robot after having sex with kitchen appliances(!) much to her husband's dismay. Other stories in the collection that I enjoyed: "Stainboy," "The Girl Who Turned Into a Bed," "Mummy Boy" and "Anchor Baby." As one reads this book we see the ever-present dark human side of a cinematic genius! Interestingly enough the book is dedicated to then Burton's girlfriend Lisa Marie who has appeared in some of his films as well. It should come as no surprise that the title character in "Stickboy" resembles Jack from the " A Nightmare Before Christmas." If you're a Burton fan or are inspired by his work this book is a definite must!
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Summary: The not-so-melancholy birth of brilliance
Review: My boyfriend gave me The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy for Christmas this year. Since I'm a huge Tim Burton fan, I thought that was EXCELLENT. Oyster Boy is the lovechild of Shel Silverstein and Edgar Allan Poe. The illustrations alone are just gorgeous. I wouldn't recommend this for children, though.
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Summary: A wonderful look at a collection of freakish children
Review: "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: and Other Stories" is a compilation of bizarre tales of "freakish" adolescents. And only Tim Burton can do this well. If you look at his work in film it is essentially a showcase of freaks. From "Batman," "Edward Scissorhands," and Jack Skelington (from "A Nightmare Before Christmas"), his world is full of abnormal personalities. And "...Oyster Boy..." is just full of strange characters. One such character, Robot Boy has the misfortune of being born as a robot to a not-so-happy human couple. Almost all of the tales are tragic, but there is a touch of humor in this tragedy. Every character has a trait that sets him/her off from the rest of the world and this trait sometime leads to the characters demise-- like Oyster Boy (I'm not giving anything away that has not been suggested in the title). Burton also illustrated "...Oyster Boy..." The drawings, though simple in appearance, could not have been done better by anyone else. It seems hard to believe that Burton once worked at Disney as an animator when looking at his illustrations. His drawings are unique. "A Nightmare Before Christmas" is essentially a 3-D adaptation of his drawings. "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" can be enjoyed by people of any age. Some material may be too "dark" for young kids. For example, I would never read "Robot Boy" or "...Death of Oyster Boy" to a young child. The real father of Robot Boy is revealed to be a "mechanical devise of sorts." Let your imagination wander ever so slightly and you will understand. But there are still some charming tales for young readers. "Stain Boy" is yet another superheroe Burton has developed. Instead of dressing up as a bat or leaping tall buildings in a single bound, Stain Boy leaves stains. Its rather funny if you think about it long enough. On a final note, "...Oyster Boy..." can be summed up as a what if. What if Dr, Seuss and Clive Barker could somehow swap DNA (yes we all know Dr. Seuss has passed on, but this is for an analogy). The offspring would probably be very close to that of Tim Burton. After all, "...Oyster Boy..." is told in a narrative not dissimilar to that of Dr. Seuss'.
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Summary: A great gift for Burton Fans
Review: The book is a bit over-priced for it's small content, but where else are you going to get original drawings and poems from the mind who brought you PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, BEETLEJUICE, BATMAN, SLEEPY HOLLOW and EDWARD SCISSORHANDS? Burton's short, simple poems and illustrations are reminiscent of Edward Gorey and will appeal to those with a grim, dark and offbeat sense of humor. If this is not you then you will probably not like ...OYSTER BOY. The stories seem simple and silly (and don't get me wrong, they are) but they're also about isolation and being different from everyone around you (a trait all of Burton's film characters share). ...OYSTER BOY is a great little book that any fan would be happy to have, especially if you love seeing Burton's unique illustrative style.
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Summary: This book ROCKS!!!
Review: This book has to be one of THE BEST books I have ever read. Five stars is not good enough to descripe this, it should have more like 58 stars! It was written by Tim Burton so only the best is expected, seeing how he is one of the best directors in the history of forever. I've spent many hours reading this book, and have done more than 18 schools projects about it. It's that good!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not for everyone.
Review: I bought this book since I'm a fan of Tim Burton's movies (Edward Scissorhands is one of the most beautiful movies I've seen). I appreciate Burton's unique drawing style, and I thought I would enjoy this book. However, it wasn't quite what I expected. I had in mind something more similar to Edward Gorey's "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" or, at worst, something akin to Angus Oblong's "Creepy Susie." And while it does have some similarity, I found it much less entertaining. The stories are often little more than a reiteration of the title, and the verse in the longer stories strikes me as uneven in rhythm (which may not bother everyone, but i'm admittedly uptight about things like that.) One solidly redeeming feature about this book is the impeccable design, however. The hardcover edition is beautifully bound, and the book is cleverly and neatly laid out. Graphic design students might want to take note of this book solely for that feature, if it can be found cheaply. In summary, I'd say the book is for hardcore Burton fans, or those who are more open to highly atypical stories. I give it three stars for effort and design.
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Summary: A "Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" review by Fernando Leal
Review: Tim Burton once again surprises and delights us with his new book, "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories". The book is a subvertion to the children's fairy-tale book genre. If you look at the book and flip through its pages, you'll say it's indeed a children book, and it's supposed to look like one. But the book has several direct sex and drugs references (i.e., the sexual problems of Oyster-Boy's parents, and "the girl who sniffed lots of glue"), and most of the characters of the tales die at the end. Tim Burton, who's given us such wonderful movies as "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", has now made a wonderful book, filled with what he's best at, unusual, misunderstood and outcast characters. "The Melancholy Death..." is a collection of tales of little freak kids who live in deep sadness for not being understood or accepted. The stories are told through melancholic verses and the illustrations (by Tim Burton) are simple and extremely elegant. Once you meet characters like Melonhead, Stick-Boy, The Boy With Nails in His Eyes, Junk Girl, The Pin-Cushion Queen, it gets easier to understand how Tim Burton could come up with such an original and bizarre film as "Edward Scissorhands". It's as though he was one of the kids from the book. The references to sex reminded me of "Batman Returns", where Tim Burton subverted the action-movie genre, turning a Batman blockbuster movie into an expressionist tale of sex and horror. The Penguin, by the way, makes an appearance in the book as a child (The Hideous Penguin Boy). "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" is a wonderful book and a must for any Tim Burton fan.
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Summary: A touching collection
Review: If you are a fan of Tim Burton's work, then I recommend this to you in the fullest. If you are not, then I recommend you stay away from it. I picked this book up on a whim, without ever having read anything by Tim Burton. I loved the Nightmare Before Christmas and enjoy the work of people like Angus Oblong, Jhonen Vasquez, Roman Dirge, and Gorey-- so I figured, why not? Although it's not the best poetry ever (I'm not a poet, I don't know very much about rhythm or anything like that), I found them to be very touching. The layout is very nice and pleasing, and some of the poems are laugh out loud funny, while others are starkly sad and leave a big impression on the reader. The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy was strikingly sad in my opinion, and I nearly cry when I read the poem "Anchor Baby". The book itself is a beautifully bound hardcover book-- it looks very nice sitting on a shelf, and I think it would be great to have sitting on a living room coffee table (..that is, if I didn't live in a dorm) The ONLY reason I did not give this 5 stars is because it is a little bit pricey, in my opinion. I would consider buying a second hand copy, if possible.
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Summary: Happily Depressing
Review: I love this book, and Tim Burton. He is a brilliant director and this book shows his skills as an author also. This book is comedic and depressing all at the same time. He takes stories that are very sad and tragic and makes them seem funny. It's a great book, with great poetry that will make you sad and amused all at once, it will make you laugh, cry, smile, frown, but mostly make you want to read it again and again. Well, 'till next time. Later.
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