My love for ghosts goes all the way back to when I began reading funny books during the sixties. The Harvey Comics title, Casper was one of my favorites. I have a 1972 Casper and Nightmare (Nightmare is the galloping ghost) in my comic collection today. I have always thought it would be cool to hang out with ghosts, and have fading and haunting as tools in my skill set. So- when I found out that Gaiman had written a book about a child who is raised by ghosts, I put it on my "gotta have it" list.
The Graveyard Book is a fun, surprising, and sometimes creepy story about a boy who manages, as a toddler, to escape from a murderer that kills the rest of his family. The small boy finds his way to a graveyard and is rescued by two adoptive ghost parents, the Owens, and a guardian named Silas. The Owens are a sweet and loving couple who were never able to have children during their lives. Silas is neither living or dead, and Gaiman never reveals more than that about him.
The boy, Nobody "Bod" Owens has a wonderful childhood filled with adventure, and receives his boyhood lessons from the Residents of the graveyard. He learns his letters and numbers by doing rubbings on the headstones with paper and crayons that Silas provides for him.
He of course, eventually seeks out the person who killed his family, the man Jack, and the reason for the murders is revealed. Gaiman gave the story a sweet and very real ending. Bod does what all children do when they grow up, and leaves home.
The Graveyard Book is well deserving of the 2009 Newbery Medal Award and will be loved by young readers and adults for many years to come.
Thank you for the gift of this book, Michael, I really love it!
