The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Title:  The Graveyard Book

Author:  Neil Gaiman 
(Illustrations by Dave McKean)

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 27007

Description:  Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard.

2009 Newberry Award Winner
2009 Carnegie Medal Winner

Rubric Rating:  Level 4: Love it


Why I Read It: I read the first chapter of this novel while standing at a display and couldn't put it down.  

Lori's Notes:  After his parents are murdered, "Nobody Owens" is raised in a graveyard by a curious lot of spectres.  You find three different types of character in this novel: the living, the dead, and the undead.  The archetypes of ghosts, vampires, and werewolves are inverted as they become the protectors of this young human boy.  They are not monsters to be feared but Nobody's "Honour Guard" his protectors, teachers, and friends.  The "man Jack", who murdered Nobody's parents and has been searching for him for years, is a devilish character and the community of "Jacks" quite interesting (ex. Jack of all trades, Jack be Nimble etc). Gaiman plays with the realms of the "real" world and the "other" particularly as Nobody travels to the underworld, as well as the distinction of life inside the graveyard vs.the living community beyond its walls.  The importance of names is also significant - if your name is Nobody than you have the opportunity to be anybody.  We read quite a few of the epitaphs from the tombstones in the graveyard- we know when they were born and when they died, perhaps what they did, but it doesn't tell you "who" they were.  By giving him the name "Nobody" his spectre parents are giving him a blank slate to create his own identity.  Not only can "Bod" become his own person he is also the master of his own fate.  As he struggles with growing up and uncovering who he is, he is given rather sage advice - that it is up to himself, not the world, to make him happy.  And, more importantly, that he has the potential to make a positive change in the world.  For Nobody it becomes the power of belief.  Believing in himself and believing in his friends - whether visible or  invisible.  

Recommended Readers: Grade 6 and up.  

Favourite Passages:

"He looks like Nobody but himself" page 25

"Wherever you go you take yourself with you." page 104

"You're alive.  That means you have infinite potential.  You can do anything, make anything, dream anything.  If you change the world the world will change.  Potential. Once you're dead it's gone." Page 179

"I want to see life.  I want to hold it in my hands.  I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island...I want everything." Page 304

Themes: Naming and the importance of Names, Family, Archetypes, "Other World" vs. "Real World", Journeys, Coming of age, the Supernatural, Belief 

Cross-Genre Links:

Movie: Coraline (2009) {based on the book by Neil Gaiman}
Movie: Stardust (2007) {based on the book by Neil Gaiman}
Music: Who are you? by The Who
Media Search: Epitaphs (Famous Last Words)
Media Search: Name Meanings
Book: The Odyssey by Homer - Chapter 9 to escape the cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus tells the giant his name is "Nobody"

Possible Discussion or Essay Topics:

• Who are some of the Jacks that you recognize from this book?
• What does it mean: "Jack of all trades, master of none"?
• What is the meaning of your name?  Do you think it suits you?
• Nobody Owens has spent most of his life in a graveyard surrounded by the supernatural, how do you think he will fair out in the "real" world?
• What sort of being is Silas?  What makes you think so?
• The characters in many of Neil Gaiman's books move between two worlds the "real world" and the "other world"- for example, Nobody enters the graveyard/underworld, Coraline, goes through a small door in her room, and Tristan, in Stardust, goes over the Wall.  What do these characters learn about themselves "within" these "other worlds"?

Other Support Materials:
The Graveyard Book Teacher's Guide #: 381332
The Grayard Book Teacher's E-Guide #: 600000416
The Graveyard Book Novel Unit #: 388359
The Graveyard Book Student Packet #: 388390
The Graveyard Book Audio CD #: 422017