PLOT SUMMARY:
Bod, a parent less baby, crawls into the most unlikely place, an ancient graveyard. Bod's innocence enables him to be raised in this unlikely atmosphere by Mr. and Mrs. Owens, his transparent (ghost) adoptive parents.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Neil Gaiman introduces the air of mystery with the first sentence, "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." With this single statement, accompanied by a menacing ink-wash painting, Neil Gaiman mysterious story begins. Mr. Gaiman writes with dark overtones and incredible innovation. He takes an unlikely setting, a graveyard, and creates a haven for a baby, who by crawling, escapes a tragic fate. A child raised by ghost? The idea of a child being raised in a cemetery surrounded by well meaning ghosts seems unbelievable. Author, Neil Gaiman, challenges the stereotyping of ghost and cemeteries creating a quaint believable world within the ancient iron fence. Gaiman's writing becomes reality. This one of a kind community is far from cliche and morose. The reader is cleverly immersed into a fascinating story about a young man, in very unusual circumstances, coming of age and solving the uncertainty of his identity. The unusual group of adoptive parents, with the assistance from the oddly strange Silas, provides all the protection and love Bod needs. Unfortunately, surrounding the ghostly "live" resident, besides tomb markers, is a looming cloud of danger from the menacing protagonist the" sleer". The battle between good versus evil anchors the plot and creates Bod's reality.
The Graveyard book is filled with humor and unexpected twist. Holly Black, co-creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles, writes "You will love it to death". The characters, even those that are translucent, are full of color and depth. Mr. Gaiman redefines co-parenting. In this small world Bod finds great adventure, education, loved ones and allies to see him through whatever circumstances, living or deceased come his way. Bod experiences a full life among the spirits of the dead.
AWARDS WON AND REVIEW EXCERPTS
Booktrust Teenage Prize, 2009 Winner United Kingdom Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 2009 Honor Book Fiction and Poetry United States
Cuffies: Children's Booksellers Choose Their Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Books of the Year, 2008 Honorable Mention Best Novel for Young Readers That Adults Would Love If They Knew About It United States
Cybils, 2008 Winner Fantasy and Science Fiction (Middle Grade) United States
Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award, 2009 Winner United States
Indies Choice Book Award, 2009 Winner Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book United States
John Newbery Medal, 2009 Winner United States
Locus Award, 2009 Winner Young Adult Book United States
Los Angeles Times Book Prize, 2008 Finalist Young Adult Literature United States
School Library Journal Battle of the (Kids') Books, 2009 Nominee United States
Nicola Turner (Children's Literature)
Gaiman, famous for his creepy and often scary tales, Coraline and The Wolves in the Wall, has created in his new novel something that is neither creepy nor scary, despite its chilling first chapter and spectral cast of characters. This is a story about the power of family--whatever form it takes--and the potential of a child who is raised with love and a sense of duty. Nobody Owens (Bod) is adopted by a couple of ghosts after narrowly escaping death at the hands of the mysterious man who murdered the rest of his family. After much debate, he is granted the “Freedom of the Graveyard” by its long dead inhabitants. His guardian, Silas, who is neither dead nor alive, brings him food and ensures he is educated in the ways of the dead and the living.
CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices 2009)
On the night his parents and sister were murdered in their beds, a young boy toddled out of his crib and home, and thereby avoided a similar fate. He wanders into the nearby cemetery, where long-dead Mr. and Mrs. Owens vow to adopt and raise him, although the other cemetery spirits are unsure about this plan. In a community meeting, Silas—the child’s soon-to-be mentor and guardian—states: “For good or for evil—and I firmly believe that it is for good—Mrs. Owens and her husband have taken this child under their protection. It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will . . . take a graveyard.”
CONNECTIONS:
Neil Gaiman Website
Additional Works
•Sandman: The Doll's House (1990)
•Lud-in-the-Mist (2002)
•Two Plays for Voices (2002)
Collections:
•Angels and Visitations: A Miscellany (1993)
•Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions (1998)
•Midnight Days (1999)
•Adventures in the Dream Trade (2002)
•Fragile Things: Short Fictions And Wonders (2006)
Anthologies:
•Digital Dreams (1990)
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixth Annual Collection, the (1992)
•Mammoth Book of Vampires, the (1992)
•Midnight Graffiti (1992)
•Snow White, Blood Red (1993)
•Tales of the White Wolf (1994)
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection, the (1994)
•Shadows Over Innsmouth (1994)
•Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears (1995)
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighth Annual Collection, the (1995)
•David Copperfield's Beyond Imagination (1996)
•Random House Book of Fantasy Stories, the (1996)
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Ninth Annual Collection, the (1996)
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Tenth Annual Collection, the (1997
•Fortune Teller, the (1997)
•Love In Vein II (1997)
•Dark Terrors 3 (1997)
•Dark Terrors 4 (1998)
•In the Shadow of the Gargoyle (1998)
•Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy, the (1998)
•Demon Sex (1998)
•Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers: Magical Tales of Love and Seduction (1998)
•Batman: Black and White (1999)
•999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense (1999)
•Silver Birch, Blood Moon (1999)
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Twelfth Annual Collection, the (1999)
•Bangs And Whimpers: Stories About the End of the World (1999)
•Murder Most Divine (2000)
•Black Heart, Ivory Bones (2000)
•Wolf at the Door, a (2000)
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Thirteenth Annual Collection, the (2000)
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourteenth Annual Collection, the (2001)
•Green Man, the: Tales from the Mythic Forest (2002)
•Horrible Beginnings (2003)
•McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (2003)
•Poets' Grimm, the (2003)
•Legends II (2003)
•Shadows Over Baker Street (2003)
•Swan Sister (2003)
•Mojo: Conjure Stories (2003)
•Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: 14, the (2003)
•Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales (2004)
•New Magics (2004)
•Faery Reel, the (2004)
•Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy (2004)
•Science Fiction: The Best of 2003 (2004)
•Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy, the (2004)
•Year's Best Fantasy 5 (2005)
•Fantasy: The Best of 2004 (2005)
•Nebula Awards Showcase 2005: The Year's Best SF and Fantasy Selected by the Science Fiction Writers of America (2005)
•Living Dead, the (2008)
Novels:
•Good Omens (1990)
•Neverwhere (1997)
•Stardust (1999)
•American Gods (2001)
•Anansi Boys (2005)
•Interworld (2007)
•Graveyard Book, the (2008)
•Odd and the Frost Giants (2008)
Poems:
•Song of the Audience, the (1993)
•Vampire Sestina (1993)
•White Road, the (1995)
•Sea Change, the (1995)
•Queen of Knives (1996)
•Reading the Entrails: A Rondel (1997)
•Desert Wind (1998)
•Going Wodwo (2002)
Short Stories:
•Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds, the (1984)
•Looking for the Girl (1985)
•Nicholas Was... (1990)
•Virus (1990
•Midsummer Night's Dream, a (1990)
•Murder Mysteries (1992)
•Chivalry (1992)
•Troll Bridge (1993)
•We Can Get Them for You Wholesale (1993)
•Cold Colors (1993)
•Foreign Parts (1993)
•Mouse (1993)
•Babycakes (1993)
•Only the End of the World Again (1994)
•One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock (1994)
•Snow, Glass, Apples (1995)
•Don't Ask Jack (1995)
•Goldfish Pool and Other Stories, the (1996)
•Daughter of Owls, the (1996)
•Sweeper of Dreams, the (1996)
•In the End (1996)
•Price, the (1997)
•Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch, the (1998)
•Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar (1998)
•Changes (1998)
•Bay Wolf (1998)
•When We Went to See the End of the World (by Dawn Morningside, age 11 1/4) (1998)
•Tastings (1998)
•How Do You Think It Feels? (1998)
•October in the Chair (2002)
•Study in Emerald, a (2003)
Graphic Novels:
•Violent Cases (1987)
•Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes (1990)
•Sandman: The Doll's House (1990)
•Black Orchid (1991)
•Sandman: Season of Mists (1992)
•Sandman: Dream Country (1992)
•Signal to Noise (1992)
•Sandman: A Game of You (1993)
•Death: The High Cost of Living (1993)
•Books of Magic, the (1993)
•Sandman: Fables and Reflections (1994)
•Sandman: Brief Lives (1994)
•Sandman: World's End (1995)
•Sandman: The Kindly Ones (1996)
•Sandman: The Wake (1997)
•Death: The Time of Your Life (1997)
•Sandman: The Dream Hunters (1999)
•Only the End of the World Again (2000)
•Last Temptation, the (2001)
•Harlequin Valentine (2001)
•Murder Mysteries (2002)
•Sandman: Endless Nights (2003)
•Creatures of the Night (2004)
•Marvel 1602 (2004)
Novellas:
•Coraline (2002)
•Monarch of the Glen, the (2003)
Picture Books:
•Mr. Punch (1994)
•Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, the (1996)
•Wolves in the Walls, the (2003)
Series:
•American Gods
•Elric of Melnibone
•Sandman
•Cthulhu Mythos
•Death of the Endless
•Fairy Tale Anthologies
•Murder Most
•Year's Best Fantasy and Horror
•Legends
•Mammoth Anthologies
•Chronicles of Magravandias, the
•Year's Best Fantasy (Eos)
•Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, the
•Dark Terrors
Images credited to: Chaplin School and Neil Gaiman's Official Website
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