The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book. By Neil Gaiman. Illustrated by Dave McKean. Harper Collins, 2008.  312 pages.  $11.99

Introduction to Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book

"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.."  So begins the strange and thrilling tale of Nobody Owens, better known as Bod.  When his parents are murdered while he is still an infant, the remarkable Bod somehow manages to escape... to a graveyard.

There, young Bod comes under the protection of the graveyard's residents (some of whom have been dead for more than one thousand years!), who decide to adopt Bod and raise him as their own.  Bod's upbringing is overseen by the mysterious Silas, who arranges to for Bod to learn not only his ABCs, but the shadowy ways of the dead as well.

Bod meets many strange beings, from ghouls and witches to night-gaunts, Sleers, and Hounds of God.  Some of these creatures mean him well, while others mean him harm, but Bod always seems to escape from danger in the nick of time.  But there are things in Bod's background that even he does not know about, and dangers are lurking, waiting for their chance to pounce.

This action-packed book is enlivened by the stylized illustrations of Dave McKean.
Illustrations from The Graveyard Book (Gaiman, 2008)

Now that you've read my introduction, you can view my read-aloud from Chapter 1 here: