The Bookworm says......Maybe. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman was an okay book. I was reading it for a school assignment, and I'm not sure I would have just picked it up and read it. In The
Graveyard Book, a little boy is sleeping, and a man called Jack went into
his home and murdered his family. The little boy escaped, and crawled to the
graveyard. Next, a ghost couple called The Owens, found him, and decided to
protect him. They gave him the gift of the graveyard, and named him Nobody
Owens, Bod for short. The reader realizes that this boy is the main character.
One day a little girl named Scarlett is visiting the graveyard with her
parents. She and Bod run off, and go down into a crypt. While down there, they
are visited by The Indigo Man and The Sleer. They escape, but it was close. The
next day, Bods guardian Silas leaves, and puts Bod in the care of Miss Lupescu.
One night during Miss Lupescu’s stay, some ghouls snatched Bod up and took him
to Ghulheim, the ghoul city. Miss Lupescu in the form of a grey dog saves him.
When they got home, Bod went back down to visit The Sleer. He steals its
brooch, and tries to sell it to an antique shop with the hopes of buying a
ghost named Liza a headstone. The worker at the antique shop locks Bod in a back
room. The worker calls The Man Jack that murdered Bods family but with the help
of Liza the witch ghost, Bod escapes.
Bod gets home to the graveyard, everyone is acting
strange. Not talking, just working and cleaning. Whenever he asks them a
question or says hello, they sing a song that ends in “Lets all dance the
Macabray”. Later on that night, they do just that. They had a great time, and
Bod met some living children. This made him decide that he wanted to go to a
real school, instead of being taught by Silas. So he does, and immediately sees
bullying at its finest. He tries to stop it, and they target him. He outsmarts
the bullies, and they vow not to bully again. Bod decides he has run his course
at real school, after a run-in with the police. After a few years, there is
exciting news. Scarlett has moved back from Scotland! She and Bod are at a
local historian, Mr. Frost’s house having tea, and Bod goes to see a letter
concerning his parent’s murder. Mr. Frost pulls out a knife, and tries to kill
Bod. Mr. Frost is The Man Jack. He and his crew chase Bod and Scarlett back to
the graveyard. This is the climax of the book. Scarlett hides with The Sleer,
and Bod outsmarts The Man Jacks crew. They lure The Man Jack into the crypt,
and resolve the conflict by tricking him into staying with The Sleer forever. All in all, it was a pretty good book. But,it was a little bit frightening, so I wouldn't recommend it for younger children.