The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This Newbery Award winner tells the fascinating tale of Nobody Owens. Bod has spent his entire childhood living in a graveyard, raised and loved by ghosts, and watched over by guardian Silas, a man neither alive nor dead. While desperate to see more of the world, venturing beyond the graveyard poses a threat to Bod because it is only in the graveyard that he is protected from the man Jack, who is responsible for murdering Bod's family. Bod outgrows friend after friend (children in the graveyard never get older) and he fails to keep himself invisible from outsiders (though he does know how), leaving him feeling out-of-place both in and outside the graveyard gates. Scarlett helps him to feel real, and she also is as interested as he is in the man Jack who killed his family and who threatens to finish the job by killing Bod, too. Interestingly enough, the man Scarlett meets one day in the graveyard, Mr. Frost, is also interested in the story of the murders that took place inside the house in which he now resides. What could possibly happen to Bod, a boy who isn't afraid to die, but really, really wants to live?

Recommended to middle grade readers, as well as to all those with a flair for the dramatic, the mysterious, and the entertaining! The illustrations in the print book add flair to this intriguing story, and the audio version, read by the bestselling author, is completely compelling.
Call number: YA GAIMAN (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian