The Graveyard Book

10/21/2020

Newbery Medal Book, Carnegie Medal Winner, plus eleven other awards!

"He took a step forward, through the gate that took him out of the graveyard. He thought a voice said, "I am so proud of you, my son," but he might, perhaps, have imagined it.

The midsummer sky was already beginning to lighten in the east, and that was the way that Bod began to walk: down the hill, towards the living people, and the city, and the dawn.

There was a passport in his bag, money in his pocket. There was a smile dancing on his lips, although it was a wary smile, for the world is a bigger place than a little graveyard on a hill; and there would be dangers in it and mysteries, new friends to make, old friends to rediscover, mistakes to be made and many paths to be walked before he would, finally, return to the graveyard or ride with the Lady on the broad back of her great grey stallion.

But between now and then, there was Life; and Bod walked into it with his eyes and his heart wide open."

Neil Gaiman

In talking about his childhood, Gaiman says he was a "feral child who was raised in libraries" and ascribes his life-long love of reading to librarians. Gaiman began writing as a journalist followed with writing biographies; his first graphic novel, Black Orchid, was published by DC Comics. Sandman, Gaiman's next series, ran for 75 issues and was the first comic to ever be listed on the New York Times' Best Seller list. Gaiman's a versatile writer with books and short stories published for children and adults, as well as writing screenplays for TV and films.

In his Newbery Medal acceptance speech, Gaiman spoke of the important role stories play in saving our lives: "Sometimes fiction is a way of coping with the poison of the world in a way that lets us survive it."

Synopsis

Bod, short for Nobody Owens, is the only living resident of the town's ancient graveyard -- which has become a nature reserve.

Bod's surprising arrival at the graveyard when he was just a toddling child brought the community of ghosts together, with the assistance of a vampire and a werewolf, to raise him. To keep him safe from the order of Jack of All Trades who wanted to kill him.

Bod grew to a young man in the graveyard learning to read and to write as well as how to Fade so mortals could not see him and how to Dreamwalk in others' dreams, But the most important lessons learned were about good and evil, family and friends, and compassion and forgiveness.

World Relevance

Gaiman believes he set out to write a book about childhood, about growing up, but in the end wrote a book about being "a parent, and the fundamental most comical tragedy of parenthood: that if you do your job properly, if you, as a parent, raise your children well, they won't need you any more. If you did it properly, they go away. And they have lives and they have families and they have futures."

Gaiman did both: The Graveyard Book is about growing up well and learning from your family and friends the things you need to know to live successfully in the world. Not just life skills, nor career skills, but life lessons -- those things like character, ethics, right and wrong which can only be learned within a family and community.

Learning Connections

Every family is going to teach their children important life lessons based on their own values, ethics and faith tradition. There are curricula available to help with the building blocks to support or reinforce the life lessons experienced while growing up.

Character Building Activities for Kids, LoveToKnow.com
Ideas for Teaching Life Skills to Your Homeschooler; Time4Learning; elementary through high school skills all children should learn.
Overcoming Obstacles; Curriculum for elementary through high school based on communication, goal setting, and decision making skills. You will need to register, but the curriculum is free.
Youth Skills for Life, Project Life; intended for transitioning to adulthood.
Free Life Skills Curriculum Options and Tips, LoveToKnow.com

Ages: 10 - adults, Middle Chapter Books, 320 pages. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead?

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