Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060530928
ISBN-13: 978-0060530921

This book just won The John Newbery Medal.

Nobody Owens - Bod for short - had an unusual childhood – he was raised in a graveyard. After the horrific death of his parents at the hands of a knife-welding murder, the toddler ends up in the graveyard on top of the hill and is adopted by a group of ghosts who live there. Mr. and Mrs. Owens have been married over 200 years and never had children, so they quickly take the child under their wings.

In an attempt to hide the child from his would-be murder, they name the child Nobody, because nobody knew who he was. The entire graveyard have a hand in raising Bod, teaching him to read and write, providing him a place to sleep and food to eat.

Although this book has a bizarre plot, it is a fascinating read from cover to cover. Gaiman is a wonderful storyteller and this is a book children and adults alike will enjoy.

4 comments:

Lynda said...

I did enjoy this book - despite it not being my usual type of reading ;0)

Vickie said...

I will eventually get to this one. It will likely be a keeper shelf book.

Ian said...

I used to have a cat named Bod. Odd that.

Ian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.