Nobody Owens, or Bod, lives an unusual life. As a baby, his parents and older sister were murdered and he escaped only because he climbed out of his crib and noted the front door was open. Bod wandered into an old historical graveyard with the murderer tracking him like a scent hound. The ghosts might have debated but in the end, Bod was given to the Owens’s to be raised with the mysterious Silas to be his guardian because as a man that was not a ghost, but not a human, he could help get items needed to raise a child.
The story follows Bod from this fateful night through his rebellions against his ghostly teachers and Miss Lepeschu, a woman that helps when Silas must venture away from the graveyard. Bod encounters a dead witch, ghouls, night-gaunts, and a mysterious gray lady on a white horse who’s job it is to ferry the dead to their resting places. Bod learns how to Fade, Dreamwalk, cause Fear and Terror as the ghosts do, but he also wants to learn about the human world, craves the touch of warmth and knowledge and experience that can be hand in the living world. His love for the ghosts around him do not diminish this desire.
There is one rule for Bod: Do not leave the graveyard. Outside the old gates the man that killed his family still hunts him. Silas and the ghosts can’t protect him if he leaves, but Bod is human He grows, he ages, and he cannot stay in the graveyard forever.
Neil Gaiman offers a dark, beautiful world filled with a plethora of creatures from myth, such as the ghosts and ghouls. He guilds a unique world with its own rules and consequences when they are broken and he keeps the very real need for life at the center of his deeply rich and emotional novel. Booklist said, “This is an utterly captivating tale that is cleverly told through an entertaining cast of ghostly characters. There is plenty of darkness, but the novel s ultimate message is strong and life affirming. This is a rich story with broad appeal” (2008). And the many, many awards and nominations Gaiman earned for this book show that many people agreed.
This list was taken from Neil Gaiman’s website:
- Awards:
- Newbery Medal
- ALA Notable Children’s Book
- ALA Best Book for Young Adults
- American Bookseller Association’s “Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book”
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award (Vermont)
- Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literary Prize (for body of work)
- Audio Publishers Association Audie Award
- Audiobook of the Year
- “Thriller/Suspense” and “Children’s Titles for Ages 8-12” categories
- IndieBound Award
- Horn Book Honor
- Burr Worzolla Award
- Midwest Booksellers Choice Award
- Locus Award (Young Adult)
- Hugo Award – “Best Novel”
- Booktrust Teenage Prize
- 2008/2009 Best Lists:
- Horn Book Fanfare: Best Books of 2008
- ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice: Books for Youth, 2008
- Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Books of 2008
- Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice 2009
- Fall 2008 Indie Next List, “Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers” – #1
- New York Public Library’s 2008 “One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing”
- New York Public Library Stuff for the Teen Age
- Amazon.com Best Books of 2008 – Editors’ Top 10 for Teens, #9
- Time Magazine Top Ten of 2008 Fiction List – #9
- Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of 2009
- 2009 Capitol Choices (District of Columbia); in “age 10-14” and audiobook categories
- Nominations:
- LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature Finalist
- World Fantasy Award
- Finalist for Amelia Elizabeth Warden Award
- Shortlisted for British Fantasy Award for best novel
Though some may see a book about a child being raised by ghosts in a graveyard to be dark, disturbing, and macabre, the book is much more.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. New York: Harper Collins. 2008.
Booklist. “The Graveyard Book – Book Review”. https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?queryString=H4sIAAAAAAAAAKtWKk5RskpLzClO1VEqzs9XsiopKgUyC0qUrJSc8vOzlYDs4iolK0MDAyArByjq6efuqwRSDGQHhDq5hIA4BUpW0dGGOkpAtndqZXl-UUp8SGZJTiqQX5KRqpBelFiWWplYlKKQBDIzNrYWABY3MNp5AAAA&R=51561015&dNo=0 Accessed 24 November, 2017.
Gaiman, Neil. “The Graveyard Book – Awards”. http://www.neilgaiman.com/About_Neil/Awards_and_Honors Accessed 24 November, 2017.
Ramblings of Jhenry 