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Book Review of The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book
The Graveyard Book
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Children's Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Trey avatar reviewed on + 260 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


I snagged this one after it was recommended to me by a friend and the next day it won the Newberry award. At that point I decided, 'I need to read this.' One mildly frustrating call to Books-a-Million later (We don't have it and can't get it. No, I don't know why (and can't be arsed to ask up the food chain why). I don't care if the website has it ... we have one in stock.)

Anyway, it was fun. It's a pretty light hearted fantasy piece and really makes me itch to re-read The Jungle Book. Its about Nobody Owens, the only survivor of his family and finds sanctuary in a local graveyard that's a nature reserve. There, the then nameless infant, is adopted and named by the inhabitants of the graveyard - some ghostly, one not so much. That last one would be Silas and he almost steals the show from Nobody, but Gaiman keeps the spotlight on Nobody and it works. The stories tell of Nobody growing to adolescence and his efforts to also learn to deal with the living - all the while trying to escape the attentions of the man that killed his family.

I liked it. I've dropped it in a drawer for my daughter when she gets older (along with The Thirteen Clocks and Mistress Masham's Repose). Time to see about a copy of The Jungle Book and Just So Stories.