The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman

Title: The Graveyard Book
Author: Neil Gaiman
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2008
# Pages: 307

Category: Award winner
Genre: Supernatural

Awards & Honors:

2008 Cybils Award

2009 Newbery Medal

Carnegie Medal in 2010

2009 Hugo Award for Best Novel

Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel

Hugo Award

The Hugo Awards are given on an annual basis by the World Science Fiction Society for the best fantasy or science fiction works of the previous year. Named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, the Hugo Award is one of the most prestigious awards given in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. The awards were first given in 1953 at the 11^th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and are awarded as the central focus of that annual event. Eligible works include any works that were published in English the previous year and are nominated by supporting or attending members of the WorldCon. Nominations are made from January through March and voting to narrow the list to 5 works in each category is completed over the next few months leading up to the convention, which is usually held in September, in a different city around the world each year. There are no written rules regarding specific criteria for the works, so the decision regarding eligibility as sci-fi or fantasy is left up to the voters. Categories for which the Awards are given have changed over time and currently include more than a dozen categories, including works that are written or dramatic.

Out of all the awards won by Neil Gaiman’s, The Graveyard Book, I chose to spotlight the Hugo Award for two main reasons. First, since it won a Newbery Medal in 2009, which is an award for children’s literature, I thought it would be appropriate to spotlight the Hugo because that award was for the Best Novel, with no age category indicated. Young Adult novels can surely straddle this fence between what is considered literature for “children” and for adults. Also, what a wonderful way to receive an award—at a worldwide convention of sci-fi and fantasy enthusiasts and get a cool trophy!!! I’m not sure what all the other literary awards give out besides the attention, a seal, and higher book sales, but a convention and a trophy seem like pretty cool prizes to me.

My Summary & Critique:

Its first sentence draws the reader in . . . “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” The Graveyard Book begins with a gruesome event, the murder of a family, but one small toddler survives, escaping to a nearby graveyard before the mysterious murderer, named “Jack” can find him. There, in the graveyard, he finds safety, friends, a family of ghosts, and a mysterious caretaker who adopt him and agree to care for him and protect him from Jack, who continues to search for him beyond the graveyard boundaries. Naming him “Nobody,” the graveyard inhabitants teach him in wordly and otherwordly ways, preparing him as best they can for the eventual confrontations he must make in the outside world and with his enemies.

I knew, before opening its pages, that this book began with a murder, because I had read a few reviews before deciding that I wanted to read this book. As a parent, I was skeptical about how the author was going to treat a subject so gruesome. Let me just say that I was surprised at the artful use of words, chosen carefully for effect, creating the sense of an event without pulling in all the dramatic emotion of it. The murder sets the stage for the story, but it is not the driving force of it. The reader is quickly drawn in to the life of “Nobody Owens” or “Bod” as he comes to be known. There is mystery and adventure in the graveyard that intrigues the reader. There is the outside world, full of intrigue and danger for Bod, and the reader follows along, interested in what Bod will encounter. I think older children, young adults, and adults are drawn to this story because it has appeal on many levels. It is certainly a fantasy world, populated by ghosts and mysterious creatures, that is intriguing and interesting because it is like and yet unlike our own world. The reader cheers for the innocent Bod, hoping he will find his proper place in the world. Young adults will be impressed by the macabre black, white, and gray artwork placed occasionally throughout the book, giving it a graphic novel feel and making readers of Gaiman’s original genre feel at home. My only criticism of the story is that it leaves a few questions in my mind, a few loose ends that I wish were tied up neatly.