The Graveyard Book

Written by Neil Gaiman

with illustrations by Dave McKean

Harper Collins Publisher, 2008

Genre: Children's fiction; mystery; fantasy

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

320 pages

The Graveyard Book is an eerie book about a young boy named Nobody Owens, or at least that was his second name, who grows up in a graveyard and is raised by ghosts and other supernatural creatures. The book starts off with the murder of a family; a mother, father, and daughter. There is also a one year old boy but as the murderer looks for him he realizes that the little boy has left the house. The toddler walked through the open front door up the hill and into a creepy old graveyard. The point of view then turns to the ghosts in the graveyard that find the boy, primarily the Owens and a mysterious man/ghost named Silas who agrees to be the boy's guardian because he can actually leave the graveyard and get food for it. Silas confuses the murder and convinces him to leave. The ghosts give the boy the name Nobody Owens, Bod, for short and give him the freedom of the graveyard that allows him to see the ghosts and even take on some of their powers. The book skips ahead a couple years to where Bod is about five years old, and a very curious child. He wanders the graveyard every night and asks a lot of questions, which only Silas truthfully answers. He tells Bod that he cannot leave the graveyard because it is not yet safe for him. One day Bod meets a little (alive) girl playing near the graveyard named Scarlett and they soon become exploring friends of the graveyard. After some exploring, and Bod's questioning, Scarlett and Bod learn that the oldest grave in the graveyard in the big hill that the mausoleum sits on and they decide to explore it. The children find the entrance to the tomb behind an old coffin and climb inside. Inside they find a dead body of an old explorer and as they make there way deeper they run into a tattooed and preserved skeleton man who tells them to leave and threatens their lives. Being brave they decide that it's not real and simply a "scarecrow" to scare them away. They tell him they're not scared and he disappears. Then a voice, the Sleer, comes and tells them they are guarding the treasure. The children are freaked out and decide it's time to leave. The kids had been down there quite awhile and Scarlett's parents are terrified and end up leaving the town and move to Scotland. The next section introduces the readers, and unfortunately Bod, to ghouls. But just before that Bod is introduced to Miss Lupescu, who is to be his temporary guardian while Silas is away, for a reason unknown. She feeds Silas, teaches him the ways of the worlds, multiple emphasized, and how to protect himself from evils. As Bod gets frustrated with all the learning and harassment from his parents and new teacher he wanders off and meets some ghouls who take him into their world and plan to make him one of them. They are terrible creatures who feed on rotting flesh and tell Bod that he will remember nothing of his old life. Obviously Bod does not find this ideal and attempts to escape. Luckily he is saved by Miss Lupescu in the form of a dog, and their friendship begins. Miss Lupescu explains that she is one of the Hounds of God, who "pursue evildoers to the gates of hell". Next Bod is introduced to a young witch who helps him with his "fading", and other graveyard powers that he is having difficulty mastering. As they become friends Bod starts to feel bad for her because she is in an unmarked grave and decides that he will disobey his guardian and go buy a headstone for her. He's very resourceful and for money he goes back into the mausoleum and retrieves one of the guarded treasures, a brooch, and leaves to attempt to sell it. In doing so he accomplishes several things; first he makes his whereabouts known to his family's murderer, he gets in trouble with Silas, and he steals a paperweight for the witch to use as a headstone. The book then jumps to a short scene with a bunch of men talking about Jack, the murderer searching for the boy, and how he needs to find the boy and finish the job or it could get dangerous. As we return to Bod's story we find that Silas has told Bod why he really can't leave the graveyard, Bod being tactful and adult convinces Silas that he needs to go to school, they agree. The next section of the book is about Bod's time at school. While most of the time he keeps to himself and quite literally remains partly invisible he makes the mistake of haunting, threatening, and harassing two well-deserving bullies which ends up bringing a lot of attention to himself, and the decision that he should no longer attend school. (A very short lived experience). Scarlett, the young girl from the beginning of the story, is then reintroduced as her parents have divorced and she and her mother have moved back. Bod and Scarlett are now about thirteen. While Scarlett and Bod are reunited and investigating Bod's family's murder, Scarlett also makes a new friend, a mysterious but kind Mr. Frost who just happens to live in Bod's dead family's house. Scarlett asks him to look into the murders and, pretending to be a historian, of course Mr. Frost says he will help unearth some information. Mr. Frost is actually Jack the murderer and ends up luring Bod into his house through information and attempts to kill him. Needless to say he fails again and both Scarlett and Bod escape to the graveyard which five men follow them into, all being "Jacks" and including the original Jack. Bod gets Scarlett to hide in the mausoleum's tomb and he goes out and gets rid of the four other Jacks. One he tricks into falling into a deep grave, and the other four he forces into the ghoul world. Just as he finishes them off he goes back to the mausoleum where he finds "Jack Frost" holding Scarlett hostage. Using his wit, he talks to the Sleer, which turns out to be a snake like figure with 3 heads, and convinces it that he is its master and needs protection. The Sleer kills the original Jack and Scarlett and Bod escape. However, Scarlett is scared of Bod and hates him because of all the death he has caused and the position he put her in. Silas comes back from somewhere, and smooths things over by taking Scarlett home and using his powers to erase her memory and convince her mom to move back to Scotland. The book ends with Silas explaining the Jacks, a brotherhood, and the reason they were all after Bod, because he was prophesied to end their brotherhood, which he did, with the help of Silas and a few others who had been leaving to kill all the other Jacks. Some time passes, and Bod is now 15 he is losing his power to see the other ghosts and fade, and walk through stuff, and Silas tells him it's time to go live his life. Bod leaves the graveyard and sets out on a new adventure.

I would recommend this book to a child who enjoys a thrill, and a somewhat scary and fantastical plot.

I would say that this book could cause a conflict in that it is a little intense and scary at some parts, and even confusing. It could also be read in a way to undermine some religious beliefs if taken too seriously.

I really enjoyed this book, it was not what i expected at all, but I liked that. It was original and unique, and the pictures, while a little weird, added to the eerieness of the story. I was scared, saddened, happy, and definitely stimulated by this book.

My rating: 5 out of 5