FICTION, FANTASY, & YA

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gaiman, Neil. 2008. “The Graveyard Book” Ill. By Dave Mckean. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 9780060530921

2. PLOT SUMMARY

The inhabitants of the ancient graveyard christen the baby Nobody when he wonders into their domain. The only survivor of the murdered family, Bod as he is called, is adopted by the ghosts of Mr. and Mrs. Owens and becomes a living resident of the cemetery. Growing up among the ruins , Bod is taught reading and writing and how to slip through shadows and fade from awareness. He encounters the invisible Sleer , a creature which guards an ancient barrow deep underground. He also befriends the spirit of a young witch for whom he makes a headstone from glass paperweight. But all through these adventures looms the mystery of his family’s murder about which his enigmatic protector Silas knows more that he will say. Then one day the truth is finally revealed. The Order of Jacks of All Trades , which murders to gain magical powers, must kill Bod to prevent the fulfillment of the prophesy that he would destroy them. The Jacks launch their attack but the tide is turned when Bod and his ghostly friends lure them deep into the graveyard where one by one, hey are disposed of. In the final confrontation, Bod leads Jack Frost , who killed his family, into the clutches of the Sleer from which there is no escape. As the story ends, Bod leaves the graveyard to enter the world outside. Having learned the secrets of the dead, he is ready to face the world of the living.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Although Nobody is a character in a fantasy novel he represents every human being who comes of age in an isolated situation. His knowledge of the word is confine to the graveyard and the dead who dwell there as is the knowledge of any child limited to his community. Neil Gaiman’s light and breezy style makes this world seem perfectly ordinary and gently draws the reader into story. There is no doubt that we “ feel a kinship with the protagonist” and “ care about what happens to him .” (Vardell, p.218) The others characters are only sketchily delineated as is only appropriate given the vague and misty nature of their existence . (This sense of incompleteness is reinforced by Dave McKean’s illustrations.) The author’s metaphysical exploration has created an intriguing, topsy - turvey reality wherein a graveyard is a metaphor for life from which we die to fully live in the world beyond.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT
“Gr 5-8-- A baby, orphaned when his family is murdered, finds his way to a graveyard and is raised by its ethereal inhabitants. Gaiman is a master storyteller and this tale won him the 2009 Newbery Award Medal “
(2009). The Graveyard Book. School Library Journal, 5540. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

5. CONNECTIONS

Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. New York: Scholastic Press.ISBN: 9781410419866