The Graveyard Book

Gaiman, N. (2008). The graveyard book. New York: HarperCollins.

In The Graveyard Book Bod, Nobody, is adopted by the spirits of the graveyard. Mr. and Mrs. Owens become his adoptive parents, and Silas becomes his guardian due to his abilities to leave the graveyard to bring Bod necessities for a living child. As Bod grows up in the graveyard, he is taught to read and write like other humans, but he is also taught fading, haunting and dream walking like the dead. He becomes friends with Scarlett, a girl living near by, and together they search for answers to Bod's past. Their discovery of Jack, his parent's murderer, puts them in danger. Silas and Bod's bond and and devotion to one another secure Bod's future, and Bod looks forward to experiencing life in the living world. All of the characters in the graveyard create a believable living world of its own. Each character has their own personality, relationships and societal place. The language of the dead reflects the language that would be spoken during the time they wold have been a part of the living world. The invisible lines dividing the physical barrier surrounding the graveyard and the outside world is a living presence in the mind of the reader. Growing up as Nobody in the graveyard, and then setting out to explore his human life with a name of his own and adventures of his own give an uplifting future beyond the conclusion.