Review of The Graveyard Book

Bibliography
Gaiman, Neil. 2008. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. New York, NY: Harper Collins. ISBN 9780060530938

PLOT SUMMARY
After a toddler's family is murdered, he wanders into a graveyard where its inhabitants agree to keep and raise him. He is given the name Nobody Owens, called Bod for short and is really a normal boy except for his unusual upbringing and place of residence. The real dangers to the child lie beyond the gates of the graveyard, not within it. And then there's The Man, Jack, who waits to find him...

CRITICAL ANALYISIS
This book begins with a murder and the first reaction the reader may experience is a sense of grisly action. Macabre is the best way to describe this book. Each chapter chronicling Bod's life reads more like a short story rather than a part of the whole. Bod encounters ghosts who raise him, ghouls, the Indigo Man, the Sleer, and other creatures, including humans, of course. Gaiman's writing is well crafted within each chapter, but the book as a whole feels to have 'holes'. Entertaining, but not a book that I would recommend for a younger child. Perhaps age 10 or older would be a good choice. This book would make a nice read aloud for a fourth grade class or older, during the Halloween season.
Newbery Award Winner.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S):
Booklist:
“This is an utterly captivating tale that is cleverly told through an entertaining cast of ghostly characters."
Horn Book: "...Gaiman has created a rich, surprising, and sometimes disturbing tale of dreams, ghouls, murderers, trickery, and family."

CONNECTIONS:
After reading this book to a class have the students create their own fantasy worlds in which they could live.

other books by Gaiman:
Gaiman, Neil. 2003. CORALINE. ISBN 9780380807345
Gaiman, Neil. 2008. STARDUST. ISBN 13: 9780061689246
Gaiman, Neil. 2009. BLUEBERRY GIRL. ISBN 13: 9780060838089