The Graveyard Book By : Neil Gaiman

I am so very excited to talk about the adolescent literature book that I just finished reading: The Graveyard Book! I went on Amazon and found the list of new Newberry winners and just randomly picked a book from the list to read. I originally chose this book because it seemed to appeal to both genders and I wanted to book that I could possibly choose as a read a loud.

The story takes place in present day. It begins one late night in October. A family is asleep in their beds. A stranger, known only as the Man Jack, enters the house. He silently creeps into the parents' room and kills them. He then heads to the daughters' room and also kills her. There is a baby upstairs in the crib and the Man Jack is headed in that direction to go and kill him as well. The baby wakes up because of the strange noise, and toddles down the stairs and our of the house. He heads to the graveyard that is just up the road. The inhabitants of the graveyard are all up and about because it is their time of day. A couple, Mr. and Mrs. Owens take pity on the poor baby and rescue him from the Man Jack. The graveyard takes a vote and they decide to allow the Owens to keep the baby with them because he is in such grave danger. The Lady in Gray bestows upon him the Power of the Graveyard. This means that he can do the same things that the ghosts can do, but he is still alive. And that is where the story begins. I have to tell you that it had my attention right from the start. A murder, a chase and then ghosts!

The story follows Nobody Owen, Bod for short, and he grows up in the graveyard. He is given a guardian who is named Silas. Silas lives between the living and the dead. He can walk among the living, and so they choose him as guardian because he can teach Bod everything that he needs to know and to give him the necessities. Bod knows that he is different from the dead, but he makes many friends in the graveyard. He befriends a witch, named Eliza, and a living girl named Scarlett. Scarlett and Bod are both 5 at the time and she isn't sure if he is an imaginary boy or real. Bod has many gifts that are given to him by the Power of the Graveyard. He can fade, dreamwalk, and terror. Fading means that he becomes forgettable by those that come in contact with him. A dreamwalk is when Bod can enter into some one's dreams and talk to them or have them experience something in particular. Terror means that he have others feel fear, even when they aren't scared. All of these skills come in very handy when he decides that it is time for him to go to school. His life is still in danger because the Man Jack is still looking for him and so he has to be very careful. He uses his fading power at school and most of the kids and the teachers forget that he is even there. He sticks up for some of the kids that are being picked on by two bullies. He uses dreamwalks and terror to make them stop.

My favorite part in the book was a chapter called Danse Macabre. On very rare occasions a certain white flower blooms in the graveyard in the dead of winter. On this very rare occasion a Danse Macabre occurs. All of the townspeople gather the flowers and wear them in their hats or in their hair. They gather in the town square at Midnight and all of the dead come our from the graveyard and dance. They dance for hours. The living with the dead. The author describes this scene so beautifully. I could really imagine that I was right there with them. At the end of the dance everyone goes back to their homes. The living don't remember the night except for the white flowers that are left on the ground.

I really feel as though this book would appeal to many adolescents. It has a very dark undertone throughout the whole book, but I feel as though many teens would find this appealing. This is not the sort of book that I read, but I absolutely loved this story! Bod has a very unusual life, but the theme of the story is finding out who you are. Bod struggles to understand where he fits in. He isn't dead, but he isn't part of the living world.

You're always you, and that don't change, and you're always changing, and there's nothing you can do about it.

T-S
I have been a teenager before and I can really understand the struggle to find ones identity. I could relate to the struggle that Bod felt and the loneliness that he encounters in the graveyard. He makes some great friends, but they stay the same age and he continues to get older. Eliza is the witch that he helps when he is a small boy. As he gets older, their relationship changes because she feels like they can no longer be friends. They have a wonderful moment together when he is leaving the graveyard one last time.

I just love the language that is used in this story. It is very poetic and magical. Here are some examples:

Macabray
insubstantial
prelude
gloaming
manifest

The language of the book is very interesting because a lot of the book consists of conversations that Bod has with various inhabitants of the graveyard. He states early on that it is polite to speak in the language of the period in which the person died.
Some examples are:
"Evening, Bod. I trust you are keeping well."
"For one of us is foolish to live, and it is not I. "
"It's not as if we can eaily mend those pantallons."

The author also adds in what is written on each of the gravestones of the people in Bod's life. The inscriptions are very telling about each character....

She Sleeps, Aye, Yet She Sleeps with Angels
They Sleep to Wake Again
Deeply Regreted by all who knew him
Lost to all but memory.

I hope that many of you will have the opportuntiy to read this book as well. It was a lot of fun!