Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be raised in a cemetery? Neil Gaiman’s latest children's tale, THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, explores just that. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s THE JUNGLE BOOK, GRAVEYARD follows the development of Nobody “Bod” Owens, an orphaned baby who escapes his house while his family is murdered and wanders into the neighboring graveyard (which is only referred to as “the graveyard”). The ghosts of Bod’s family follow him to the cemetery gates, but cannot enter because spirits are only allowed where their bodies are interred. So, the dead mother appeals to the cemetery residents to protect her vulnerable baby from their murderer. The graveyard adopts him, grants him “the way of the graveyard” and raises him as the dead’s own.
Bod ages with each chapter, creating a lovely structure where each episode reads like a short story while building onto the novel as a whole. Like most precocious and lonely children, Bod gets into many threatening situations--from an antagonizing babysitter to kidnapping goblins--but most from the living who want Bod dead.
I’ll resist specifics, because the novel was a swift read and filled with subtle nuances and surprises that my enthusiasm could ruin. But the book is light enough for children and dark enough for adults.
For more information on Neil Gaiman: www.neilgaiman.com
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