In The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman has created a charming allegory of childhood. Although the book opens with a scary scene--a family is stabbed to death by "a man named Jackâ€ --the

The Graveyard Book
- a young adult/adult novel of a young boy who grows up in a graveyard nursed by ghosts
In The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman has created a charming allegory of childhood. Although the book opens with a scary scene--a family is stabbed to death by "a man named Jackâ€ --the story quickly moves into more child-friendly storytelling. The sole survivor of the attack--an 18-month-old baby--escapes his crib and his house, and toddles to a nearby graveyard. Quickly recognizing that the baby is orphaned, the graveyard's ghostly residents adopt him, name him Nobody ("Bod"), and allow him to live in their tomb. Taking inspiration from Kiplingâ€™s The Jungle Book, Gaiman describes how the toddler navigates among the headstones, asking a lot of questions and picking up the tricks of the living and the dead. In serial-like episodes, the story follows Bod's progress as he grows from baby to teen, learning lifeâ€™s lessons amid a cadre of the long-dead, ghouls, witches, intermittent human interlopers. A pallid, nocturnal guardian named Silas ensures that Bod receives food, books, and anything else he might need from the human world. Whenever the boy strays from his usual play among the headstones, he finds new dangers, learns his limitations and strengths, and acquires the skills he needs to survive within the confines of the graveyard and in wider world beyond. (ages 10 and up) -â€“Heidi Broadhead
Country USA
Brand HarperCollins Children's Books
Manufacturer HarperCollins
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 9780060530921
Model ISBN9780060530921
ReleaseDate 2008-09-30
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780060530921

Country	USA
Brand	HarperCollins Children's Books
Manufacturer	HarperCollins
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	9780060530921
Model	ISBN9780060530921
ReleaseDate	2008-09-30
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780060530921

The Graveyard Book

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