The Graveyard Book
Encyclopedia
The Graveyard Book is a children's fantasy novel by English author Neil Gaiman
. The story is about a boy named Nobody Owens, who after his family is murdered is adopted and raised by the occupants of a graveyard. Gaiman's first full-length children's novel since the bestselling and acclaimed Coraline
, The Graveyard Book won the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novel
, Newbery Medal
, and Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book
, as well as the 2010 Carnegie Medal. It is the first novel to win both the Carnegie and Newbery medals and was also shortlisted for numerous others.
, West Sussex
. Recalling how at home his son looked there, Gaiman thought he "could write something a lot like The Jungle Book
and set it in a graveyard." When he sat down to write, however, Gaiman decided he was "not yet a good enough writer" and came to the same conclusion as he revisited it every few years.
Each of the eight chapters is a short story, each set two years apart as the protagonist grows up. Some chapters have analogies to Rudyard Kipling
's 1894 work (from which The Graveyard Book takes its title); for example, the chapter "The Hounds of God" parallels the story "Kaa's Hunting
".
The bulk of the book is about Nobody's (often called Bod) adventures in and out of the graveyard as he grows up. As a boy, he befriends a girl called Scarlett Perkins and she is eventually convinced by her mother that he is her imaginary friend. It is with her that Bod discovers a creature called the Sleer, who has been waiting for thousands of years for his "Master" to come and reclaim him. Scarlett's parents believe she has gone missing during this adventure, and when she returns consequently decide to move the family to Scotland. He is once captured by the Ghouls and then rescued by his tutor Miss Lupescu, discovering she is a Hound of God, i.e. a werewolf. Bod befriends Elizabeth Hempstock the witch and, through a short adventure that includes being kidnapped by a greedy pawnshop owner, finds a gravestone for her. Once, he tries to attend regular primary school with other human children but it ends in a disaster as two bullies make it impossible for him to maintain a low profile. Throughout his adventures Bod learns supernatural abilities such as Fading, Haunting, and Dream Walking, taught by his loving graveyard parents, his ghost teacher Mr Pennyworth, and Silas.
Years pass by, and it is revealed that Jack has still been searching for the toddler that he had failed to kill. He must complete his assignment or his secret society, the Jacks of All Trades, will be destroyed by the surviving boy.
On Bod's 14th year at the graveyard, Silas and Miss Lupescu both leave to attend some business. Meanwhile, Scarlett and her mother come back to the town as her parents have divorced and she and Bod reunite. Scarlett has also made friends with a historian called Mr Frost who is living in a house not too far from the graveyard. Researching the murder of Bod's family, Scarlett learns that the historian lives in the house that Bod once lived in. Bod visits the house, in an effort to learn more about his family. When showing Bod the room he lived in as a baby, Mr Frost reveals that he actually is the man Jack; Jack Frost is his full, true name.
Bod is attacked by the man Jack and four other members of the Order. Bod and Scarlett escape to the graveyard where Bod is able to defeat each Jack separately, except for Jack Frost. Jack Frost takes Scarlett captive in the chamber of the Sleer but is then tricked by Bod into saying "Yes, I am your master" to the Sleer. The Sleer engulfs Jack Frost in an "embrace" and they disappear into the wall. Silas returns and it is revealed that he, Miss Lupescu and two other supernatural beings (the ifrit Haroun and the winged mummy Kandar) who comprise the Honour Guard were fighting against the rest of the Jacks of All Trades, thus destroying the secret society completely. Though they succeeded in destroying the society, Miss Lupescu was killed in battle, to Silas and Bod's great sorrow.
Scarlett is shocked and appalled by the events of the night and Bod's questionable actions in the course of killing Jack Frost. Silas suggests the best course is to remove most of her memories of Bod and what happened that night. Bod disagrees with Silas, but Scarlett ends up with her memories taken anyway. Silas uses his power of suggestion to convince Scarlett and her mother to return to Glasgow.
In the final chapter of the book, a now-grown Bod is losing the Freedom of the Graveyard and even his ability to see ghosts. At the end of the book, Silas gives Bod a passport with the name "Nobody Owens" and Bod leaves the graveyard to embark on a new life.
and won the 2008 Locus Award for Best Novelette. The book was released on 30 September 2008 in the United States by HarperCollins
and on 31 October 2008 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing. The cover and interior illustrations of the US-edition were created by longtime Gaiman collaborator Dave McKean
; he illustrated the UK edition for the adult market. The British edition for children was illustrated by Chris Riddell
.
A limited US-edition of The Graveyard Book, with a different cover and interior illustrations by McKean, was produced by Subterranean Press
. There is an audiobook edition read by Gaiman, including a version of Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre
" played by Béla Fleck
.
for its "delicious mix of murder, fantasy, humor and human longing", noting its "magical, haunting prose". The New York Times
Monica Edinger was very positive about the book, concluding, "In this novel of wonder, Neil Gaiman follows in the footsteps of long-ago storytellers, weaving a tale of unforgettable enchantment". Kirkus Reviews
awarded it a starred review, claiming that, "this needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child". Author Patrick Ness
wrote, "what's lost in forward momentum is more than made up for by the outrageous riches of Gaiman's imagination" and praised the villains. The Independent
praised the novel's different tones.
signed on to write and direct a film adaptation, which is in pre-production.
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
. The story is about a boy named Nobody Owens, who after his family is murdered is adopted and raised by the occupants of a graveyard. Gaiman's first full-length children's novel since the bestselling and acclaimed Coraline
Coraline
Coraline is a horror/fantasy novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers...
, The Graveyard Book won the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
, Newbery Medal
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
, and Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book
Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book
Winners of the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book, awarded by the Locus magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year....
, as well as the 2010 Carnegie Medal. It is the first novel to win both the Carnegie and Newbery medals and was also shortlisted for numerous others.
Concept and development
Gaiman had the idea for the story in 1985, after seeing his then two-year-old son Mike "pedaling his tricycle around a graveyard" their family lived across from, in the English town of East GrinsteadEast Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
. Recalling how at home his son looked there, Gaiman thought he "could write something a lot like The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...
and set it in a graveyard." When he sat down to write, however, Gaiman decided he was "not yet a good enough writer" and came to the same conclusion as he revisited it every few years.
Each of the eight chapters is a short story, each set two years apart as the protagonist grows up. Some chapters have analogies to Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's 1894 work (from which The Graveyard Book takes its title); for example, the chapter "The Hounds of God" parallels the story "Kaa's Hunting
Kaa's Hunting
"Kaa's Hunting" is an 1893 short story by Rudyard Kipling featuring Mowgli. Chronologically the story falls between the first and second halves of Mowgli's Brothers, and is the second story in The Jungle Book where it is accompanied by the poem "Road Song of the Bandar-log".-Story:The...
".
Synopsis
The story begins as Jack (usually referred to in the novel as 'the man Jack') has murdered all the members of a family except for the toddler upstairs. Unknown to him, the toddler has climbed out of his crib to explore. The toddler crawls out of the house and up a hill to a graveyard where the ghosts find him. They discuss whether to keep him until the Lady on the Grey (implied to be Death) appears and suggests that the baby should be kept ("The dead must have charity"). The ghosts accept and Mrs. Owens (the ghost who first discovered the baby) and her husband, Mr. Owens, become the foster parents. The baby is named Nobody Owens (as Mrs. Owens declares "He looks like nobody except himself") and is granted the Freedom of the Graveyard. The caretaker Silas (strongly implied to be a vampire) accepts the duty of providing for Nobody. The man Jack is persuaded that the toddler has crawled down the hill, and he eventually loses the trail.The bulk of the book is about Nobody's (often called Bod) adventures in and out of the graveyard as he grows up. As a boy, he befriends a girl called Scarlett Perkins and she is eventually convinced by her mother that he is her imaginary friend. It is with her that Bod discovers a creature called the Sleer, who has been waiting for thousands of years for his "Master" to come and reclaim him. Scarlett's parents believe she has gone missing during this adventure, and when she returns consequently decide to move the family to Scotland. He is once captured by the Ghouls and then rescued by his tutor Miss Lupescu, discovering she is a Hound of God, i.e. a werewolf. Bod befriends Elizabeth Hempstock the witch and, through a short adventure that includes being kidnapped by a greedy pawnshop owner, finds a gravestone for her. Once, he tries to attend regular primary school with other human children but it ends in a disaster as two bullies make it impossible for him to maintain a low profile. Throughout his adventures Bod learns supernatural abilities such as Fading, Haunting, and Dream Walking, taught by his loving graveyard parents, his ghost teacher Mr Pennyworth, and Silas.
Years pass by, and it is revealed that Jack has still been searching for the toddler that he had failed to kill. He must complete his assignment or his secret society, the Jacks of All Trades, will be destroyed by the surviving boy.
On Bod's 14th year at the graveyard, Silas and Miss Lupescu both leave to attend some business. Meanwhile, Scarlett and her mother come back to the town as her parents have divorced and she and Bod reunite. Scarlett has also made friends with a historian called Mr Frost who is living in a house not too far from the graveyard. Researching the murder of Bod's family, Scarlett learns that the historian lives in the house that Bod once lived in. Bod visits the house, in an effort to learn more about his family. When showing Bod the room he lived in as a baby, Mr Frost reveals that he actually is the man Jack; Jack Frost is his full, true name.
Bod is attacked by the man Jack and four other members of the Order. Bod and Scarlett escape to the graveyard where Bod is able to defeat each Jack separately, except for Jack Frost. Jack Frost takes Scarlett captive in the chamber of the Sleer but is then tricked by Bod into saying "Yes, I am your master" to the Sleer. The Sleer engulfs Jack Frost in an "embrace" and they disappear into the wall. Silas returns and it is revealed that he, Miss Lupescu and two other supernatural beings (the ifrit Haroun and the winged mummy Kandar) who comprise the Honour Guard were fighting against the rest of the Jacks of All Trades, thus destroying the secret society completely. Though they succeeded in destroying the society, Miss Lupescu was killed in battle, to Silas and Bod's great sorrow.
Scarlett is shocked and appalled by the events of the night and Bod's questionable actions in the course of killing Jack Frost. Silas suggests the best course is to remove most of her memories of Bod and what happened that night. Bod disagrees with Silas, but Scarlett ends up with her memories taken anyway. Silas uses his power of suggestion to convince Scarlett and her mother to return to Glasgow.
In the final chapter of the book, a now-grown Bod is losing the Freedom of the Graveyard and even his ability to see ghosts. At the end of the book, Silas gives Bod a passport with the name "Nobody Owens" and Bod leaves the graveyard to embark on a new life.
Publication history
One chapter of The Graveyard Book was published as a short story in the Gaiman anthology M is for MagicM is for Magic
M is for Magic is a collection of child-friendly short fiction by Neil Gaiman.The stories and poems were selected from previously published works, with the exception of "The Witch's Headstone", which is an excerpt from the later-published novel, The Graveyard Book, and are:* "The Case Of The Four...
and won the 2008 Locus Award for Best Novelette. The book was released on 30 September 2008 in the United States by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
and on 31 October 2008 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing. The cover and interior illustrations of the US-edition were created by longtime Gaiman collaborator Dave McKean
Dave McKean
David McKean is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician....
; he illustrated the UK edition for the adult market. The British edition for children was illustrated by Chris Riddell
Chris Riddell
Chris Riddell is a British illustrator and occasional writer of children's literature, and a political cartoonist for The Observer. He has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice and the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize seven times....
.
A limited US-edition of The Graveyard Book, with a different cover and interior illustrations by McKean, was produced by Subterranean Press
Subterranean Press
Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction...
. There is an audiobook edition read by Gaiman, including a version of Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns)
Danse macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based in an old French superstition...
" played by Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
.
Critical reception
The Graveyard Book was cited by the American Library AssociationAmerican Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
for its "delicious mix of murder, fantasy, humor and human longing", noting its "magical, haunting prose". The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Monica Edinger was very positive about the book, concluding, "In this novel of wonder, Neil Gaiman follows in the footsteps of long-ago storytellers, weaving a tale of unforgettable enchantment". Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
awarded it a starred review, claiming that, "this needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child". Author Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness is an American author, journalist and lecturer who lives in London. He holds both American and British citizenship...
wrote, "what's lost in forward momentum is more than made up for by the outrageous riches of Gaiman's imagination" and praised the villains. The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
praised the novel's different tones.
Awards
| Award | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Newbery Medal Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ... |
2009 | |
| Hugo Award for Best Novel Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially... |
2009 | |
| Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel | 2009 | |
| Carnegie Medal | 2010 | |
| British Fantasy Award British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards are administered annually by the British Fantasy Society and were first awarded in 1971. The membership of the BFS vote to determine recommendations, short-lists and winners of the awards... for Best Novel |
2009 | |
| World Fantasy Award for Best Novel World Fantasy Award for Best Novel This World Fantasy Award is given to the fantasy novel or novels voted best by a panel of judges, and presented each year at the World Fantasy Convention.-1975:... |
2009 |
Film adaptation
Irish Academy Award-winning filmmaker Neil JordanNeil Jordan
Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...
signed on to write and direct a film adaptation, which is in pre-production.
External links
- Official website
- Neil Gaiman reads the entire book - video of Gaiman reading at Mousecircus.com
- Notes and annotations at Literarywiki.org - wiki annotation of The Graveyard Book