“The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman

Oh my, oh my, oh my. First, kudos to the Newbery committee for finally finding the “cool”. Second, don’t we love Neil Gaiman? Don’t we? Really? What a delightful, fun, sad, adventuresome, touching, scary book this is. Apparently begun as a short story about a boy who lives in a cemetery, the tale now covers the entire childhood of the boy known as “Bod” who comes to live in an ancient and crumbling cemetery under devastating circumstances. “Bod” is raised by ghosts and … others … but the magic of this book is subtly drawn, with the emotions and the visceral feel being paramount. Not since Peter S. Beagle’s “A Fine and Private Place” has a novel so gentle and reverently portrayed the world of the dead through the eyes of the living. As always, it is the reflection of who we are, and what life is, that shines through in this analysis. And Neil Gaiman’s prose is, of course, stunning. A sample:
“A graveyard is not normally a democracy, and yet death is the great democracy, and each of the dead had a voice, and an opinion, as to whether the living child should be allowed to stay, and they were determined to be heard, that night.
It was late autumn when the daybreak was long in coming. Although the sky was still dark, cars could now be heard starting up further down the hill, and as the living folk began to drive to work through the misty night-black morning, the graveyard folks talked about the child that had come to them, and what was to be done. Three hundred voices. Three hundred opinions.”
I often tell kids that good writing is like a painting, and this book is like an impressionist work, with shadings that continue to spin and move on every page. It is a rich book, and one that I dearly hope will be read. I often make predictions as to which Newbery winners will become “classics”. I am often wrong. I hope that this time, I’m right. This book deserves to be read. And savored. And chewed on. Bon appetit.