Graveyard Book - Softcover

Gaiman, Neil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747594805 ISBN 13: 9780747594802

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2009

Synopsis

When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod's life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?

About this title

Review

In The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman has created a charming allegory of childhood. Although the book opens with a scary scene--a family is stabbed to death by "a man named Jack” --the story quickly moves into more child-friendly storytelling. The sole survivor of the attack--an 18-month-old baby--escapes his crib and his house, and toddles to a nearby graveyard. Quickly recognizing that the baby is orphaned, the graveyard's ghostly residents adopt him, name him Nobody ("Bod"), and allow him to live in their tomb. Taking inspiration from Kipling’s The Jungle Book, Gaiman describes how the toddler navigates among the headstones, asking a lot of questions and picking up the tricks of the living and the dead. In serial-like episodes, the story follows Bod's progress as he grows from baby to teen, learning life’s lessons amid a cadre of the long-dead, ghouls, witches, intermittent human interlopers. A pallid, nocturnal guardian named Silas ensures that Bod receives food, books, and anything else he might need from the human world. Whenever the boy strays from his usual play among the headstones, he finds new dangers, learns his limitations and strengths, and acquires the skills he needs to survive within the confines of the graveyard and in wider world beyond. (ages 10 and up) -–Heidi Broadhead

From the Back Cover

It takes a graveyard to raise a child.

A commemorative edition of a perennial favorite, The Graveyard Book, which has sold more than one million copies and is the only novel to win both the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medal. Includes the story behind The Graveyard Book from Neil Gaiman and sketches from Dave McKean.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0747594805
• ISBN 13: 9780747594802
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304
• Illustrator: Riddell Chris