The Graveyard Book
By Neil Gaiman
The (a) story follows Nobody Owens, a mortal boy who has been raised in a graveyard by ghosts and other strange, supernatural beings. Life in the graveyard is never dull, and Bod experiences a number of adventures as the years pass. But the biggest adventure lies ahead of him—because the man who murdered Bod’s biological family is still out there. And if Bod should ever leave the graveyard, he will be in danger of being found.
But what else is a growing, curious child to do?
The (A) story, first and foremost, is about growing up. Each tale told within the book, each adventure Bod gets swept into, is a lesson learned and an experience gained. From his first lessons on the living and the dead with Miss Lupescu and the residents of the graveyard, to his first wary steps beyond the front gate in search of a headstone for a witch, Bod exemplifies the concept of living. He makes friends as well as enemies, takes risks, makes mistakes, loves, loses, and strives to learn as much as he can about the world he longs to one day explore. For someone who grew up amongst the dead, he is adept at making the most of the time he has and living his life to the fullest. And as such, his experiences in the graveyard help prepare him for taking care of himself once his ghostly guardians no longer can.
As a big part of this, the story is also about education. It’s about taking the things you have learned and applying them to real life whenever they are needed. We see this when Miss Lupescu teaches Bod to cry out for help in several different languages—a lesson he quickly make use of, in spite of previously doubting its worth. But we also see it in action during the story’s climax, when Bod employs the many things he has learned over the course of his life in order to protect himself and his home from threats.
According to Neil Gaiman’s Newberry Medal Acceptance Speech, which is printed in the back of my copy of The Graveyard Book, the idea for this story was deeply inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book series. As such, this is more of an anthology of short stories from the same fictional universe than a single, overarching plot—though they do wrap up nicely in the end. And while I was not expecting that when I picked it up, I have so far been a fan of Gaiman’s stories and his imagination, and The Graveyard Book did not disappoint. Full of colorful characters, fantastic adventures, and enough hints at further lore to make me wish there were more stories in this universe, The Graveyard Book is a testament to life at its most beautiful and strange. A fun read for anyone who wants a quick, surreal romp along the line between the living and the dead.
