The Graveyard Book

Neil Gaiman's Newbery Award winner The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins, September, 2008) is my choice for best Halloween reading. Actually it's a great book any time of year. Magical, lyrical, uplifting - there are not enough superaltives to describe what is catagorized as a children's story. I left my childhood eons ago and still found it mesmerizing from the first word. What makes The Graveyard Book even more special is the presence of a wise, and caring vampire.

Synopsis: Neil Gaiman tells the unforgettable story of Nobody Owens, a living, breathing boy whose home is a graveyard, raised by a guardian who belongs neither to the mortal world nor the realm of the dead. Among the mausoleums and headstones of his home, Bod experiences things most mortals can barely imagine. But real, flesh-and-blood danger waits just outside the cemetery walls: the man who murdered the infant Bod’s family will not rest until he finds Nobody Owens and finishes the job he began many years ago.

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. HarperCollins (September 30, 2008).

This is a children's book I was surprised to learn. I first read about it a week ago, I don't remember where, but it was online and there was a link to the Neil Gaiman page where videos of him reading from this book are available. As a rule I don't like having fiction read to me. I decided this after several long trips with a variety of novels on CD, and losing patience with everyone after 2 CDS, 3 at the most. But when I arrived at this particular site the video began without any prompting by me. Gaiman read from Chapter one. It took 45 minutes. I closed my eyes and hung on every word. It is now possible to hear all 8 chapters online, for free. Prepare yourself for an outstanding voyage.

BTW - I have ordered the audio CD for my next trip.

From the publisher: "Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. [Note: he's a vampire.]

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family. . . .

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, the graveyard book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages."