by Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Dave McKean
HarperCollins, 2008. 320 pgs
Reading Level: ages 9-12
Hardcover: $17.99
Annotation: When your parents are ghosts and you're raised in a graveyard, life is both a fascinating and frightening adventure.
Summary: Nobody Owens is the only living boy to make his home in an English village graveyard. After his parents and sister are killed by the man Jack, the littlest child toddles off to a nearby graveyard and at the insistence of his newly dead mother, a ghostly couple agree to adopt the child and raise him as their own. Christened Nobody, "Bod" is reared by his guardian, Silas, and the spirits whose bodies have been layed to rest in the graveyard. He makes friends amongst graveyard dead and leads a peaceful, fascinating life. The graveyard folk raise him as their own, with various spirits giving him lessons of sorts, not always useful to his current time-period, but superbly interesting nonetheless. The graveyard can be a dangerous place though, and after his encounter with a pack of hellhounds and night-gaunts, Bod barely escapes with his life. But one day a live girl enters the graveyard and the two become fast friends. However, it isn't until the girl finds herself back in Bod's life many years later that trouble begins and the man Jack manages to find Bod--setting out to finish the job he started on that long ago night.
Evaluation: Gaiman's work is an outstanding piece of literature and a pure delight of fanastical fiction with lovable characters. Macabre and humorous, the darkness of this ghost story is made light by the delicate touch Gaiman gives his ghostly souls. Humor abounds and the story is appealing to readers of all ages. Listening to the audio version only enhanced the experience, as Gaiman reads his story himself in a delicious English accent with all the right touches of ghostly delight and wry humor. An immenently bittersweet read and a real treasure to enjoy.
Significance: Gaiman tackles the complex world of the orphan and manages to create an enriching experience, teaching us the diffcult truth that sometimes friendships must end and that we must eventually make our own way in the world.
Personal Choice: I've been wanting to read this book ever since my friends and colleagues raved about it and I wasn't disappointed.
Awards: Newbery Winner, 2009 / ABA - Indies Choice - Best Indie YA Book Buzz, 2009
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