THE GRAVEYARD BOOK- A Book Review For Children's Literature

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gaiman, Neil. 2008. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books. ISBN 9780060530938

PLOT SUMMARY

As his family is murdered by the man Jack, a young child slips out of the house and wanders up the hill to the old cemetery.  As the cemetery’s inhabitants wonder at his arrival, the ghost of his mother screams through the graveyard, “Save my baby!” and with that, little Nobody Owens becomes the charge of Mr. and Mrs. Owens.  

As he grows up the only living human in a place inhabited by ghosts and vampires and werewolves, Bod learns history and compassion, reading and bravery.  Bod makes and loses a friend, goes to school, travels through the goblin world, and fights for justice and fairness without even understanding what they are.  Bod grows from a toddling infant to a young man, and ultimately, all of his strange and ordinary experiences culminate in a climactic episode in which he must avenge the past, save the present, and prepare his future.  

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, Neil Gaiman creates an extraordinary tale of fantasy and wonder.  The story starts out with murder and fear, so the reader is thrown off balance from the first pages and drawn into the mystery of why it happened.  

The protagonist, a growing boy named “Bod” (which stands for “Nobody”), grows up in a place he doesn’t belong,  mostly invisible, and longing to know someone else like him.  He is loveable from the first moment, and the reader feels his loneliness, his vulnerability, and his hope. His naive and innocent point of view open the reader’s mind to take this fearful journey into the world of the dead.

Gaiman creates a startlingly unique and original storyline that is impossible to predict, yet makes perfect sense as the plot unfolds.  His great characters and interesting details are intriguing- with Bod learning how to haunt and fade and dreamwalk.  In one brilliant scene, the ghosts leave the cemetery to “Danse Macabre” with the living, and only the ghosts and Bod remember that it happens.  The setting in this border world between the living and the dead has its own set of rules, and Gaiman does an exquisite job of abiding by them while at the same time leaving the reader to fill in the details (that Silas is a vampire, for example).  

This novel leaves the reader feeling unsettled and curious for the duration of the novel, and even when Bod leaves the cemetery to find his place with “his eyes and his heart wide open,” the reader is still left with an overwhelming sense of loss and longing- and the hope that Bod will find the happiness and belonging he has always sought.

AWARDS AND REVIEWS

• Newbery Medal
• ALA Notable Children's Book
• ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• American Bookseller Association's "Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book"
• "Thriller/Suspense" and "Children's Titles for Ages 8-12" categories
• IndieBound Award
• Horn Book Honor
• Locus Award (Young Adult)
• Hugo Award - "Best Novel"
• Plus many more…
• STARRED Review in Booklist:  “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. ”
• STARRED Review Horn Book: “Lucid, evocative prose and dark fairy-tale motifs imbue the story with a dreamlike quality. …this ghost-story-cum-coming-of-age-novel as readable as it is accomplished.”
• New York Times Book Review: “The Graveyard Book, by turns exciting and witty, sinister and tender, shows Gaiman at the top of his form. In this novel of wonder, Neil Gaiman follows in the footsteps of long-ago storytellers, weaving a tale of unforgettable enchantment.”
• Washington Post: “Like a bite of dark Halloween chocolate, this novel proves rich, bittersweet and very satisfying.”
• STARRED Review Kirkus:  “Wistful, witty, wise—and creepy. This needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child.”

CONNECTIONS

• Students can read the graphic novel of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, NEVERWHERE, CORALINE, STARDUST or one of the other books by Neil Gaiman.
• Students can visit a local cemetery and make grave-rubbings.  Students can examine what type of data is put on tombstones and compare it to what Gaiman used in the novel.
• Students can pick a topic in the novel to research (Danse Macabre, one of the time periods, the drowning and burning of “witches”, orphaned children, etc.).  This could be a good cross-curricular assignment with Social Studies.
• Students could write an epitaph for themselves hang them out on display.  Possibly a cross-curricular assignment with Art.

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Image two retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/etcadambrown/graveyard-book/?autologin=true