Graveyard by Neil Gaiman - Reviewed by Gregory Efraim

The Graveyard Book is a novel about a little baby whose entire family is murdered. He grows up to be a half human half ghost. He lives in Great Britain and he can make himself invisible, or slip through doors. This is what prevents him from being bullied the first time he goes to school. It is a book full of action and is one of the first horror books written for children. The author’s name is Neil Gaiman who is born in Great Britain and has won a literary award for this book.

The baby escapes in a graveyard but the murderer, The Man Jack, chases him because he has a mission: to kill the entire family. Two ghosts, Mr. and Mrs. Owens, see the baby running away and decide to hide and adopt the poor child. The ghosts in the graveyard vote whether to keep the little boy or not. Most of the graveyard votes yes, so they keep him. They name him Bod Owens, because Bod is short for nobody; the ghosts don’t know his real name.

The Man Jack can smell the scent of Bod and tries to enter the graveyard. A man named Silas stops The Man Jack and hypnotises him so as to send him in the wrong direction. At this point, Silas becomes Bod’s bodyguard. When Mr. and Mrs. Owens are not around, Silas takes care of Bod. Since Bod lives with ghosts, he is able to do almost anything ghosts can do. He also has a human friend; a little girl named Scarlett. Bod met her when he was young, and they used to play together. Scarlett is not scared of Bod because Bod looks just like a human. Scarlett’s parents want to move to Scotland.  However, Scarlett says that she can’t leave Bod behind. Bod is invisible to Scarlett’s parents, therefore they do not believe her.

Since Bod has nothing to do, he wants to go out in the human world. However, Silas does not think it is a good idea. Bod goes to school and Silas advises him not to be noticeable. When Bod goes to school, initially he is not noticed; but a few days later, he interferes with a bully and the bully is about to “teach Bod a lesson” in the science lab after school. However, when the bully is about to harm Bod, Bod makes himself invisible and also makes all the dead skulls and frogs in the lab talk. As such, the bully is so scared that he runs away.

When Scarlet returns from Scotland, she is 14 years old and has forgotten everything about Bod. When she sees Bod, they become friends again and Scarlett invites him to her “new friend’s” house. Scarlett’s new friend, who looks familiar and suspicious to Bod, invites Bod up to the 13^th floor. Bod and the suspicious man are alone in a room and the suspicious friend locks the door…

What will happen to Bod? Will the suspicious man try to harm Bod? Who is the suspicious friend? What will happen next? It’s up to you to discover!

I recommend this novel because it is creative and is full of action. It is definitely a good choice for the next novel you would want to read.