How Nobody Came to the Graveyard

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Summary

Neil Gaiman’s story begins with murder. Three members of a family have been slain, and the murderer plans to finish off the fourth member, a baby, who’s room is at the top of the house’s long staircase. But the front door was left open, and the baby is an adventurous one. He climbs out of his crib and out the door, unaware of the danger he is escaping. His journey takes him to a graveyard, where the murderer, the man Jack, follows but looses sight of the baby as the ghosts of the graveyard take him in and promise his mother, a ghost herself at this point, that they will protect him. They name him Nobody, Bod for short, because his anonymity is a factor in his safety.

The Graveyard Book follows Bod as he grows up in the graveyard, raised by ghost parents, and protected and mentored by a guardian who walks the line between living and dead. He has adventures and dangerous encounters in the graveyard and he learns lessons about the living and the dead, and beyond the gates of his home, a murderer is searching for him.

Worth staying up past bedtime?

Yes. A thousand times, yes. I could not put this book down once I started reading, and I cannot get it out of my head now that I’ve finished. With Nobody Owens, Gaiman has achieved that amazing balancing act of creating a protagonist who is admirable yet fallible; intelligent, but willing to learn more. Bod’s lessons about life and death, taught to him by his guardian, Silas, and the residents of the graveyard, never felt preachy, only wise and thought-provoking. Bod’s graveyard home is wonderfully imaginative yet not so outlandish that I found it unbelievable. I imagined reading the book at a younger age and could feel the chills I would get from some of the scarier moments of the story.

Having finished the book, I keep finding my gaze wandering to the graveyard that lies just beyond my kitchen window, and I wonder how it would feel to walk through it with Gaiman’s story in my head.

Reviews

-Winner of the 2008 John Newbery Medal

“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.”

-Monica Edinger, The New York Times Book Review

In the library

This book would be great to read aloud or individually. The ghosts in the graveyard all come from various centuries and time periods throughout history, something which is immediately evident by their speech and mannerisms. Teachers could discuss the different social settings from these times, and touch on a major event from each century the ghosts represent.

SLIS 5420 / Module 4

Week of Sept. 20-26