Graveyard Book - Softcover

N. Gaiman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747594805 ISBN 13: 9780747594802

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2009

Synopsis

Discover the bewitching, classic children’s novel The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, featuring spellbinding illustrations from Chris RiddellWINNER of the 2010 CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL and the 2009 JOHN NEWBERY MEDAL. ONE OF BBC''S HUNDRED GREATEST CHILDREN''S BOOKS OF ALL TIME‘Every page is crowded with invention, both funny and scary’ PATRICK NESS‘A tale of unforgettable enchantment’ NEW YORK TIMESNobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, raised and educated by ghosts. There, living among the dead, Bod discovers that he possesses remarkable magical powers: he can avoid people''s notice, scare them, and even invade their dreams.There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard. But it is in the land of the living that the real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives - and he has sinister plans for Bod...WINNER OF THE LOCUS YOUNG ADULT AWARDWINNER OF THE HUGO BEST NOVEL PRIZEWINNER OF THE BOOKTRUST TEENAGE AWARD

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
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0747594805
• ISBN 13: 9780747594802
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304