Book Reviews by Jamie Morris: Genre 6, Book 1: THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman

Genre 6 covers contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy, and young adult books.

Bibliographic Data

Gaiman, Neil. 2008. The Graveyard Book. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 0060530928. Illustrated by Dave McKean.

Plot Summary

A toddler wanders out of his house and into a cemetery after his family is murdered by a killer named Jack, who follows him there. His mother briefly appears to cemetery residents and asks them to protect her son. Mr. and Mrs. Owens, dead for over 200 years, agree to raise the boy as their own. They name him Nobody Owens because he “looks like nobody but himself.” Bod grows up in the cemetery and has many adventures, while Jack continues to hunt for him to “finish the job.”

Critical Analysis

Written for ages 9-12, The Graveyard Book is a whimsical but dark tale of a child being raised by ghosts. Bod is provided the “protection of the graveyard,” which makes him able to learn how to do some of the tricks ghosts do like passing through solid objects and fading from view. Because he’s still alive, though, it’s more difficult for him to perform these tricks. The story follows Bod growing up in the graveyard, and each chapter is set in a different year of the boy’s life. This particular graveyard of Old Town has been closed many years and is considered a wildlife preserve when Bod first stumbles into it. Gaiman does an excellent job of providing a variety of time-appropriate British vocabulary and expressions for the dead, though American readers may experience some difficulty making sense of what the older ghosts are saying at times.

Because the ghosts are unable to touch physical objects, a different kind of presence in the graveyard, Silas, offers to obtain food for the child and be his guardian until he’s able to take care of himself. While the book never identifies who or what Silas is exactly, it does tell the reader that he is not dead in the same way the ghosts are dead, he doesn’t eat human food, he can manipulate the minds of others, he sleeps in a steamer trunk with dirt from his home in it, and he casts no reflection. He is, however, able to interact with the living and protect Bod. Silas also acts as Bod’s teacher as he grows up, teaching him about the world and graveyard life equally. He teaches Bod how to perform ghost tricks so Bod has methods of protecting himself from his would-be killer.

As a child, Bod encounters a little girl named Scarlett Perkins, who becomes his first living friend. When she tells her parents about Bod, they assume he’s an imaginary friend. She plays with Bod and they have a good time until she stays in the graveyard too long one day, and her parents think she’s lost. The cops are called in and a search party is formed. Shortly after that, her parents decide to move back where they had come from, and Bod loses his friend. This experience makes him want to start going to a human school, so he can be around other living people. Silas agrees, but still teaches him in the graveyard too. Though Bod tries to attract no attention, he is an odd child and does cause others to focus on him in the school when he tries to protect another child, so he has to give up going to a human school.

Bod has many unusual adventures in the graveyard, and a few in the town, which are sure to delight any reader’s imagination. Near the end of the story, Scarlett’s parents divorce and her mother moves back to Old Town with her. She rediscovers Bod, but still refers to as her imaginary friend. A man befriends Scarlett and her mother, who turns out to be the man looking for Bod. Scarlett inadvertently leads him and his friends straight to Bod, which leads to an interesting showdown between the boy, the group who wants him dead, and some graveyard friends’ assistance. Bod manages to live, but forever scares Scarlett away from him. Silas allows Bod to remain in the graveyard until he’s 15 and “old enough to guard himself.” Bod finds he is having trouble seeing the ghosts now, and must say goodbye to his graveyard family and friends. Silas gives him a wallet of money, and his mother, Mrs. Owens, tells him to go out into the world and take all the paths of life possible. He leaves, excited and ready for Life.

The book provides some challenging vocabulary words appropriate for older children, and concepts that more mature readers can appreciate. There is some humor and good fun in the book, but it takes a dark tack which may give some young readers chills. After reading this story, I found myself wanting to visit a graveyard I’ve never been to before myself, just for fun. Previously, I’ve only ever thought of graveyards as places to go to visit lost loved ones, but this story gave me a different perspective on them as historical places that have their own story to tell. I think this story can also help anyone who finds cemeteries a bit scary to see them in a new light.

Awards

2009 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Newberry Medal
Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel
2010 Carnegie Medal

Reviews

School Library Journal: “Bod's love for his graveyard family and vice versa provide the emotional center, amid suspense, spot-on humor, and delightful scene-setting. The child Bod's behavior is occasionally too precocious to be believed, and a series of puns on the name Jack render the villain a bit less frightening than he should be, though only momentarily. Aside from these small flaws, however, Gaiman has created a rich, surprising, and sometimes disturbing tale of dreams, ghouls, murderers, trickery, and family.”

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: "Individual chapters read as snapshot anecdotes, with the protagonist's life unfolding as intriguing moments pulled out of assumed years of quietly passed time. Bod, endearingly flighty as a child and painfully ill prepared but wildly optimistic as a teen, is an affable and memorable protagonist, surrounded by equally captivating ghosts. . . . While readers firmly entrenched in the real world may question such issues as sleeping arrangements and eating (both addressed briefly but not lingered upon), most will be so swept up in the romantic tragedy and potential of young Bod's life that they will not spare moment questioning how a child could actually live out an entire childhood unnoticed in an active graveyard. It is to Gaiman's credit that many of his readers will wish their own childhoods had played out in the same location."

The Horn Book: "Lucid, evocative prose . . . and dark fairy-tale motifs imbue the story with a dreamlike quality. Warmly rendered by the author, Bod's ghostly extended family is lovably anachronistic; their mundane, old-fashioned quirks add cheerful color to a genuinely creepy backdrop. McKean's occasional pages and spots of art enhance the otherworldly atmosphere. . . . Gaiman's assured plotting is as bittersweet as it is action-filled—the ending, which is also a beginning, is an unexpected tearjerker—and makes this ghost-story-cum-coming-of-age-novel as readable as it is accomplished."

The New York Times Book Review: "While ‘The Graveyard Book’ will entertain people of all ages, it's especially a tale for children. Gaiman's remarkable cemetery is a place that children more than anyone would want to visit. They would certainly want to look for Silas in his chapel, maybe climb down (if they were as brave as Bod) to the oldest burial chamber, or (if they were as reckless) search for the ghoul gate. Children will appreciate Bod's occasional mistakes and bad manners, and relish his good acts and eventual great ones. The story's language and humor are sophisticated, but Gaiman respects his readers and trusts them to understand."

Connections

Enrichment Activities

People interested in hearing the book can watch the author, Neil Gaiman, read the entire novel The Graveyard Book online. He also then answered questions about it: http://www.mousecircus.com/videotour.aspx

Some websites already provide wonderful enrichment activities for this book, including:

http://www.fcsd1.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=4926&

http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm?book_number=2184

Enrichment activities for cemeteries are available here: http://www.fortbendmuseum.org/education/handouts/cemetery.pdf

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=1326

http://www.history.org/history/teaching/graveyrd2.cfm

http://www.nipissingu.ca/faculty/nancym/EDUCABQ/History/Cemetery-Study-Ideas-6.pdf

http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/halloween-gravestonestombscraftsideaskids.html