The Graveyard Book

Here it finally is: This year's Newbery Medal winner, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

Set in an unnamed English city, the story opens with a man named Jack breaking into a family's home. He has killed the parents and their daughter, and now only needs to track down the family's baby. The toddler has ideas of his own, however, as he escapes his crib unaware of the danger and goes for a walk through the neighborhood toward the graveyard. The ghosts who inhabit this ancient burial ground take the boy under their protection by giving him Freedom of the Graveyard, which allows him to see all of the inhabitants of the afterlife who reside here and the ability to learn a few of their tricks in order to keep himself safe. Named "Nobody" by his new parents ("Bod" for short), the boy grows up receiving an education that only ghosts who have been dead for hundreds of years can give him. Things grow more interesting for Bod as he grows older and begins to have an interest in the outside world. Bod suddenly feels the need to leave the safety of his graveyard to see how the living live their lives, which puts him in danger again as he begins to draw attention to himself - even the attentions of the man Jack, who still seems desperate to kill him.

This book was definitely a worthy Newbery winner. Neil Gaiman is a bit of an expert in prose, combining serious narration with witty and often snarky snide comments that flow perfectly together. One of my personal favorite lines, showing Gaiman's witt and Bod's tenacious character, is: "He decided not to tell them what he was planning, on the not entirely unreasonable basis that they would have told him not to do it." (113) Brilliant, I'd say. The writing will appeal to readers of all ages, both young and old, and this might be an enjoyable family read-aloud.

The Graveyard Book draws a lot of material from Kipling's The Jungle Book, and I am eager to reread this classic to see if I can pick up on more references than those I remembered the first time. What this similarity means is that the reader gets to watch Bod grow up in an environment that he was never intended to have access to and slowly begin to return to normal human life as he comes of age. He even has companions who fill the roles of Kipling's Baloo and Baghera as they act as his teachers and protectors. Bod's growing interest in the rest of humanity is well done as he discovers both the beauties and flaws in the world, but still wishes to explore it.

Bod's life in the graveyard is generally peaceful and somewhat idyllic, but the pockets of danger that the reader sees are intense. The first thirty pages or so of the story, as the man Jack chases Bod with a knife intent on killing him, are especially horrifying. Even if his motives are a bit weak (my only complaint about this book), Jack is a terrible villain and the threat of his return is always a cause for anxiety.

Overall Grade: A