Book Blog - THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman

Some of you may remember from my Book Blog on THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST by Rick Yancey that I’m like Katy and don’t do scary. However, in the name of The Muses, I mustered enough courage to dive into THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman. (psst, Katy, it won the Newberry…figured it couldn’t be too terrifying). Here’s the description from NeilGaiman.com:

Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place-he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other. This chilling tale is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. Like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans. 

Now, the first scene is pretty intense for Middle Grade with murder of Bod’s family, but the rest of this story is exciting, funny, and not very scary.  Sure, it’s got ghosts (duh), witches, the undead, and demon-ish things, but it’s the humans outside the graveyard who are the threat. Gaiman brings his usual zaniness, creativity, and twisted-beauty to the text and it’s spell-binding. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK may not produce buckets’o’sweat or sleeping with the lights on, however, it’s a great October read – shoot, a great read any month.