The Graveyard Book Paperback – August 1, 2010

I loved reading this book. I wish I would have heard about this book before now. Great story! I am 40 years old and still enjoyed it.

"The man Jack paused on the landing. With his left hand he pulled a large white handkerchief from the pocket of his black coat, and with it he wiped off the knife and his gloved right hand which had been holding it; then he put the handkerchief away. The hunt was almost over, He had left the woman in her bed, the man on the bedroom floor, the older child in her brightly colored bedroom, surrounded by toys and half-finished models. That only left the little one, a baby barely a toddler, to take care of. One more and his task would be done."But it is an unusually adventuresome toddler who, having been awakened by the noise downstairs and seeking release from the boredom of cribdom, has already succeeded in escaping both his crib and the house (through the door that the man Jack has left slightly ajar). Toddling up the hill through the thinning fog, the toddler squeezes between iron bars into an old graveyard. And even though the man Jack tracks the toddler to the graveyard, the killer fails in his final task due to the intervention of the ethereal inhabitants of the graveyard. Led by the Owens couple (who have been married in life and death for more than 250 years), those who call this place home decide to become protectors, teachers, friends, and surrogate parents to the child, and to provide him the "Freedom of the Graveyard." "'It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will,' said Silas, 'take a graveyard.'"These good-hearted souls also decide to name him Nobody Owens, Bod for short."Rattle his bonesOver the stonesIt's only a pauperWho nobody owns" (epigraph)Considering that our introduction to the toddler includes details of his resourcefully pulling a teddy bear into the corner of the crib in order to scale its high sides, his experiencing a fortuitously soft landing upon falling to the floor, and his skillfully navigating the stairs on his way out of the house, it is not surprising to see Bod grow into a bright and equally adventurous little kid who never hesitates to venture wherever he feels inclined to do so -- and is all too successful in achieving his desires. Fortunately, he has the support system of the many graveyard inhabitants so that he repeatedly experiences relatively soft landings."He decided not to tell anyone what he was planning, on the not entirely unreasonable basis that they would have told him not to do it."But which will be the more dangerous expeditions for Bod? Those that take him from the sanctuary of the graveyard to hellish places where no living human has gone before, or those that take him from the graveyard into the world of living humans?And what of the man Jack who continues to seek his prey?Being that THE GRAVEYARD BOOK has been available for months, that Neil Gaiman has done a world tour promoting the book (Check him out on Youtube.), that the book has spent months on the NYT Bestseller List, and that there are scores of online discussions regarding the book's many allusions and references, there might well seem little need for my rhapsodizing about it.But I cannot help myself. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is just too sweet and exciting a read for me to keep quiet about. The day I spent reading it (I ate it all in one sitting.) has been a highlight of my holidays. And when my spring Nubian goat kids are born, I will be naming the firstborn male after Nobody Owens.What makes it so great?Once again, as with my favorite fantasy characters from years past, a young hero filled with goodness who cares about his relationships, uses his knowledge and gifts to battle evil and stand up for the little guy rather than for the sake of gaining power. The graveyard makes for a unique setting. The cast of quirky dead (and undead) characters who raise the child are funny and charming. There is a wealth of danger and adventure and humor."It was like every dream of falling he had ever had, a scared and frantic drop through space, as he headed towards the ground below. Bod felt as though his mind was only big enough for one huge thought, so, That big dog was actually Miss Lupescu, and, I'm going to hit the rock floor and splat, competed in his head for occupation."

A toddler’s family is murdered, however he escapes to an old graveyard and is rescued by some of the inhabitants who end up raising him. Nobody Owen’s, or Bod for short, grew up without the modern conveniences that the world outside the graveyard was accustomed to. Still, he grew up to be a smart boy and very capable. The premise of the story is interesting, and the graveyard characters are intriguing and mostly likable.

Neil Gaiman once said in an interview that, “Kids are so much braver than adults, sometimes, and so much less easily disturbed. Kids will make their nightmares up out of anything, and the important thing in fiction, if you're giving them nightmares, is to demonstrate that nightmares are beatable.” One of my favorite authors of any genre, Gaiman has proven himself time and again to be the conqueror of nightmares and daydreams and even gods. His story The Graveyard Book is a perfect example of his ability to weave a haunting tale, with fun anecdotes and life lessons that will follow children into their adult years, while still finding a special way to appeal to the adults who will pick the story up to share with their children.Though the book itself is definitely of the children’s genre, the tone of the book is that of a suspenseful, whimsical nightmare on the brink of adolescence. Told from a third person point of view, the voice of the book in that of a narrator. The opening pages of the story opens up into a grisly scene, outlining why, exactly, the book was targeted towards children older than the fifth grade. “The knife had done almost everything it was brought to do, and both the knife and the handle were wet.” (Gaiman, Pg 6.) A home invasion and triple murder sends a toddler child out into the night in search of adventure. The invader, the man Jack, tracks him to a cemetery, where the child has somehow slipped into the locked graveyard and stands upon a hill. The man Jack managed to find his way to the child, only to have him swept into the mist. Of course, we as readers know that this was really the ghostly inhabitants of the graveyard protecting the boy as requested by the weak spirit of his recently slain mother.Gaiman has several themes in the story that work together to create a flawless plot that captivates his readers. Some of the more obvious ones are death, thesupernatural, fate versus free will and community. While the death and supernatural themes are easily explained in the cemetery, walking-talking-mythical creature moments, the others are actually just as obvious. It was predicted centuries prior to the time period the book was set in that a child who matched Bod’s description would destroy the Jack’s, a secret society of assassins and criminals. This makes me wonder if the events leading up to the resolution of the story, the removal of the man Jack from Bod’s life, were set in motion long before he was born, or if Bod himself truly did play a part in the entire situation. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and when Bod is given the freedom of the graveyard and taught the tricks of the ghosts (such as fading), the inhabitants pull together to raise and care for Bod as a community, ensuring his safety and education as best they could.Bod’s story is a simple tale for children, with a twist of complicated ingenuity that leaves you wanting to know more about him. You find yourself heart-broken when Scarlett, his one and only human friend, leaves him in fear, stating that he is “less than human.” And then Silas tells him, after ensuring she forget everything that had happened, that “people want to forget the impossible. It makes their world safer.” (Gaiman. Page 288.)There is a lesson to be learned as you run through the graveyard with the little orphaned boy, learning letters from the ancient tombstones and history from the oldest of ghosts, and as you sit in the classroom Bod finally attends as he desperately wants to be normal, only to find that he always attracts the strangest of attention. It is important to branch out of your comfort zone, to explore the world around you, and to learn as much as you can about that world. But it is just as important to rememberwhere your home and heart are, and to understand that sometimes there aren’t always happy endings, and some people just are not meant to be in your life. Neil Gaiman uses his literary prowess to spin a tale of fantasy and reality in a way that steals your heart, and the only true way to realize this is by reading the book. I recommend The Graveyard Book to anyone who wants a good adventure story, with an amazing plot as well.