28. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, 2008)

GENRE: Fantasy / Horror

HONORS: Booktrust Teenage Prize, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature Honor, Carnegie Medal, Cybil Award, Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award, Garden State Teen Book Award, Indies Choice Book Award, John Newbery Medal Winner, Locus Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature Finalist, UKLA Children’s Book Award

REVIEW:

When a man named Jack breaks into a house to kill a family, a small baby unknowingly escapes his grasp by walking out the open front door.  He squeezes through the gate of a graveyard and is discovered by the graveyard’s ghost residents.  In order to protect him, Mr. and Mrs. Owens rally the other spirits and it is decided that they will take care of him, along with their undead friend, Silas, who can move between the living and the dead, getting supplies for the child.  Naming him “Nobody,” or “Bod” for short, the graveyard raises him as their own, but when Bod meets Jack again, he discovers that there is a reason why he is being hunted and that there are more Jacks that want him dead.

OPINION:

This is a really enjoyable book, filled with moments of humor and horror, but all the while readers will be caught up in Bod’s life both inside and outside the graveyard.  Fans of The Jungle Book will especially appreciate the connections Gaiman draws, with the most obvious being a boy raised by ghosts instead of a boy raised by wolves.  There are some frightening scenes, such as when Bod gets thrown into the ghoul gate, but they all work to build upon Bod’s character as readers watch him go from a small child to a young man.  Gaiman includes a cast of wonderful ghosts and other supernatural creatures that will stick with readers, perhaps even making them wish that they grew up as Bod did.  Tweens will love the novel’s mixture of humor, horror, and adventure, drawing them into the world of The Graveyard Book.  

IDEAS:

This book would be great for a library display for Newbery Winners, as well as one featuring ghostly novels, especially around Halloween.  Also, I once heard of a library that put together a program called “The Graveyard Walk” for patrons to walk through different scenes from the book.  I think that would be a great way of introducing tweens to the book and engaging fans of the book, as well.