Gaiman, N. (2008). The Graveyard Book. Ill. by D. McKean. New York, NY: Harper Collins. ISBN: 9780060530921.
B. Plot Summary:
The story begins with the brutal murder of a mother, father and daughter. Only one escapes-the toddler boy upstairs. The murderer, Jack, knows that one has escaped and goes to search in the nearby graveyard, but he's too late, as the ghosts have already adopted and named the boy Nobody Owens (Bod for short). Bod gets Freedom of the Graveyard and gets special abilities, such as becoming invisible to humans, walking through walls and graves, but only in the graveyard does this work. When he's a young kid, he meets an alive human girl named Scarlett, who thinks he's her imaginary friend. The two adventure together one day to visit the home of the oldest member of the graveyard, Sleer, only to return surrounded by cops. They thought Scarlett was kidnapped, which leads her family to get scared and leave the country.
Years later, Bod learns the truth about his family's horrible murders. Jack has still been searching for Bod because if he doesn't, Bod is truly destined to destroy Jack's ancient society, The Jack of All Trades. Scarlett returns when they are teenagers and becomes friends with a close neighbor of the graveyard, Mr. Frost, who turns out to really be Jack. Jack and four other men from the society hunt Bod down. Bod defeats the four other Jacks, and has a faceoff with Mr. Jack Frost. He is able to beat him using his magical power of fading. Now at the age of 15, Bod is losing all of his powers slowly. His guardian, Silas, gives him money and a passport as Bod says goodbye to his graveyard family and starts a new life.
C. Critical Analysis:
Gaiman won several awards for The Graveyard Book, such as the Newbery Medal and Hugo Award for Best Fantasy/SciFi novel. The main character, Bod overcomes many obstacles from the get go. He escapes the house when the murderer Jack has been searching for him, while lost, he gains the love and protection from a graveyard family, and he defeats the man who killed his family. The fantasy aspect of this novel comes from the supernatural abilities that the characters and Bod have, such as fading and dreamwalking. There are also characters that don't exist in our world such as witches and ghosts.
Gaiman's storytelling is suspenseful and dark, and at times disturbing. He incorporates other stories into his own: Jack Frost and the similar idea of The Jungle Book. While this is intended for older ages, I can still see some of the events being terrifying for students: brutal murder and kidnapping. The theme of this fantasy novel is the idea of a community raising a child: "It takes a village."
D. Review Excerpts:
**Publisher's Weekly states " What mystery/horror/suspense reader could stop here, especially with Gaiman's talent for storytelling? The author riffs on the Jungle Book, folklore, nursery rhymes and history; he tosses in werewolves and hints at vampires-and he makes these figures seem like metaphors for transitions in childhood and youth."
**Kirkus Reviews states, "Childhood fears take solid shape in the nursery-rhyme-inspired villains, while heroism is its own, often bitter, reward. Closer in tone to American Gods than to Coraline, but permeated with Bod's innocence, this needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child."
E. Connections:
Students will enjoy reading other books by Neil Gaiman such as Coraline and American Gods. This fantasy novel fits into the ghost story/supernatural subgenre, so readers would enjoy other stories in this group.
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