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The Graveyard Book | 
 enlarge | Author: Neil Gaiman
Creator: Dave Mckean
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $9.84
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Avg. Customer Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 247
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060530928
EAN: 9780060530921
ASIN: 0060530928
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
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Product Description
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family. . . . Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, the graveyard book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 65 more reviews...
 Gaiman works his usual genius January 8, 2009
I have to start this review with a confession; Neil Gaiman holds a special place in my reading heart. His Sandman comics series was the first series I found that proved that comic books could be written on multiple levels - for kids and adults. With that said I'm going to do my best to give you an honest review of his latest novel, The Graveyard Book.
The Graveyard Book is a novel of horror. Marketed at Young Adults, but there are terror filled moments in these pages. There's also a bittersweet longing that, for lack of a better word, haunts this book. The novel begins with a woman, a man and the elder child dead in their home. The killer's name is Jack and there is one more murder to be committed. The youngest child, a toddler. But, only a teddy bear remains in his crib. The boy, while sucking on his "nummer" has already escaped down the stairs and out the door. Walking in his weeble-wobble way he's already headed up the hill towards the graveyard.
The toddler will grow to manhood in this graveyard. Protected and taught the secrets of life and death by its inhabitants. The dead, the undead, the spirits and the demons find the boy and name him Nobody or Bod for short. Bod remains in the graveyard because he knows that Jack is waiting for him should he emerge.
Gaiman does a brilliant retelling of Kipling's Jungle Books, and succeeds in making the story greater then the original. Trade the jungle for a graveyard. Trade the bear for a ghost. Trade the bloodthirsty tiger for a murderous killer. It's all there, but with something more. The premise is there, but Gaiman works his usual genius. Making the graveyard a place of magic and melancholy. Where the dead sit and talk, and you love them for it.
You will be the one left out in the cold if you pay too close of attention to the YA classification. Just like with The Sandman almost 20 years ago, Gaiman makes this novel accessible and enjoyable for ages 8 to 80. Don't do yourself the disservice of missing out on the wonderment found in The Graveyard Book. I think I may have found the first novel to read to my son in a few years. The Graveyard Book rightfully deserves 5 out of 5 tombstones.
Also, if you have a chance, please pick up a copy of the the audio book. Mr. Gaiman's reads it himself and it's truly stellar. He's one of the few author's I know of who do their own audio books, and he has an amazing reading voice. The Graveyard Book, to me, is even better than Coraline, which was his previous novel aimed at YA's and soon to be a motion picture.
Reviewed at Bitten by Books Paranormal Fiction Review Site by SunandHeir
Delightful. Vintage Gaiman. January 7, 2009
I bought this book as a gift for a young girl, but being a huge Neil Gaiman fan I couldn't resist reading it myself. Gaiman once again weaves his magic, creating not only an entertaining story but also the mysterious world of the graveyard and beyond. Getting to know Bod Owens and his caregivers was a delight.
a modern fairtyale and a ripping good read January 5, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is highly, HIGHLY recommended. I have been laid up in bed sick for the past two weeks and unable to focus, but I stayed up reading this to finish it. It won't take you very long, but it does not feel skimpy or short in the least - it is meaty and wonderful.
I understand that this is aimed at the young adult market, but I wish more young adults were reading this than Gossip Girl or their ilk because this is very much a story about growing up. For that reason, adults and younger readers alike can all find something in this book for them. (I don't want to give too much away and other reviewers have done a fine job of describing the plot, so I'll just say that it is a bit spooky and appropriate for a whip-smart 11 year old and beyond. Since the murderer in the story is after a specific person and not a random serial killer, I don't think a lot of kids would be kept up at night by that aspect of the book.) In fact, I'd even say that if you have a reader who is deeply afraid of ghosts, this book might go some way towards relaxing those kinds of anxieties. The ghosts here are for the most part friendly and not malevolent. It seems that the living are the most dangerous.
Just go and read this already. I am a fan of the Sandman series but think that this book is really even better in terms of storytelling.
Of course it's a great book, but check out the illustrations. January 5, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What I can say about Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book that hasn't already been said? By now, everyone pretty much knows that it's an homage to the Jungle Books and that most everything that Gaiman works on is excellent. The only real item of value to add is that it's like the Mowgli stories in the Jungle Books, not the Jungle Books in their entirety. I suspect that that's what most people think of when they think of "The Jungle Books", so no one should be much disappointed at the lack of a ghoulish Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
So, with everyone understanding that it's good and all, it's worth buying and reading and well made (as many books these days are not), I'm going to stop talking about Neil's work right now.
Instead, I'm going to talk about Dave McKean.
Dave McKean illustrated this book and did so in a style the blends dark and domineering black pen with light and subtle watercolors (in grey, of course). At the beginning of the story, it's pretty heavy and the art overwhelms the text, but after that it's just a little illustration here and a little one there. Hilary Zarychy, aside from having a last name that I have no idea how to pronounce, did a wonderful job on the typesetting, so the text flows along with the art, showing that the two work together to create one hole, but (and this is VERY important) at no point does the text become difficult to read.
See, a lot of books these days are "illustrated" simply because certain types of books are supposed to be illustrated. However, when you have a book where the illustrations blend together with the story, it creates a whole that is remembered as story and images -- forming a solid marker in the memory that forever reminds one of the experience of reading the story. There are a few books that manage to blend the art and the story together this way, Catherine Coblentz's Blue Cat of Castle Town (Illustrated by Janice Holland and available online for free here), Ruth Stiles Gannett's My Father's Dragon (Illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett and available online for free here) and many of Thornton Burgess's early books (Illustrated by Harrison Cady) come to mind. The Graveyard Book joins this small set of books that will always hold a place in my mind.
I open the book to a random page, 142 to be precise, and I see a small painted stone on a bed of leaves. The lines are simple but definite. The composition is straightforward and uncomplicated. However, I immediately remember the story, the characters, the fear and the sadness. I remember sitting in my brown recliner, reading by the yellow light of my halogen lamp, with a blanket over my legs and two cats sleeping on me. The room is silent and the day's concerns have slipped away as I wander through the life that is Bod's.
That's what illustrations are supposed to do. That's why this book is special beyond the writing.
one of the Gaiman's best, and that's sure saying something. December 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Jungle Book but with a Graveyard instead of a Jungle. And that's really all I should have to say in recommendation. But, with Gaiman, there's always beautiful prose and gorgeous details (in description of the world of the graveyard, the epitaphs, the monsters and villains) that make his books more than just a great idea. Nobody Owens, the sole survivor after his family is murdered by a man Jack, is raised by the graveyard, living between the borders of life and death, just as Mowgli lived between civilization and the wilderness. Silas, my favorite character, his guardian, also lives in the borders. Nobody's childhood is spent in the world of the graveyard, with ghosts as teachers and playmates, stones and mausoleums as a playground. As he grows older, he must begin to make the transition into the world of the living, as well as face the dangers in that world. The characters are beautiful and fantastic in this thoroughly clever book, which is easily one of Gaiman's best. As someone who spent a lot of her childhood in a graveyard and still has an affinity for them, I love this book. Grade: A
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