Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
2008, 289 pages
The Graveyard Book is a re-imagining of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, set in an abandoned British graveyard. As a baby, Nobody Owen’s family is murdered by a mysterious man in black while Nobody wandered to the nearby graveyard. Here, the ghosts and other creatures of legend protect and raise him as a community. His teacher is a mysterious creature named Silas, and his parents a pair of childless ghosts. When the man in black returns to the village to hunt down the baby he did not manage to kill, all hell breaks loose.
The tale is entirely charming, and sufficiently creepy to be a wonderful introduction to the world of Neil Gaiman’s writing. I picked it up on my first weekday in Ireland, when I was too freaked out to drive, and too tired to keep walking around town. I sat for the rest of the day in a town park reading, and it was a great way to enjoy a lovely spring afternoon. As with most of Neil Gaiman’s writing, it was just the right level of creepy. I’m glad I didn’t find it as a kid, it would have freaked me out. I’m not really good at criticizing kid’s books because I don’t read enough of them, but I think it would probably be okay for kids around 12 or 13.
I like how Gaiman does creepy. I am quite excited to read this!
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