The Graveyard Book is a modern fantasy novel for young adults written by one of today’s most famous authors of that genre – Neil Gaiman. “Children…view The Graveyard Book as a grand story, filled with exciting adventures that shape a boy’s character and make Nobody the somebody he becomes” (Reading Today, 2009).

 

Bod is an ordinary boy living in extraordinary circumstances. One evening, while his parents and older sister sleep soundly in their beds, a toddler quietly escapes the confines of his crib and waddles out the front door. Meanwhile, the man Jack has murdered his family (for reasons unknown at this early date), and is coming after him. The toddler makes it to an old cemetery - which is also a nature preserve, and goes inside. It is here he meets his adopted parents, guardian, and new community. It is in The Graveyard that he receives a new name – Nobody Owens -- and the conflict of whether or not dead people can raise a child. The Lady on the Grey (Gaiman's personification of Death) grants him the Gift of the Graveyard - powers that enable him to physically interact with spirits, dream walk, fade through solid objects, and shift from people's sight and mind. All useful when trying to hide.

 

As he grows so do the comlications of his situation. Nobody Ownes is forbidden from leaving the Graveyard for his own safety - his family's killer is still out there. However his need for revenge, and the inevitable departure from the cemetary, require that he learn about the living world. Bod must learn to reconsile both the afterlife and the living life.

 

The climax of the story comes when Bod meets Jack [Frost] through his assocaition with Scarlett (see Character profile). It here that the mystery behind Bod's family's murder is explained: The Jacks-of-All-Trades sought to fulfill an ancient prophecy of a child that walks through realms.

 

Our hero defeats the Jacks with help from the Guardians, however his re-discovered friendship with Scarlett is sacrificed when she discovers his abilities, his Gift of the Graveyard and saw how he took his revenge, and calls him 'Monster'. Silas [ a vampire] takes her memories of the events.

 

Departing from the Gothic genre this book has a happy ending. Bod is gradually released from his graveyard gifts, out growing his home, and he realizes it is time to live in the world of the Living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"In telling Nobody’s story of life in the graveyard, Gaiman...  said he wanted to follow a rule of good writing: Tell one big, true thing. In this case, don’t be scared of people who are dead. But know that life is better, that its possibili-ties and potential are limitless" (Reading Today, 2009)..