A great original story, with just enough 'dark' ingredients that always help to make a great kids read (though its entertaining enough for adults also). ( )

Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard. ( )

Before this book was published, I had read the short story it started out as in a collection of Gaiman's stories. I think it was M is for Magic. The story was very good, so I was excited when I learned that Gaiman had turned it into a novel. When I learned that it had won the 2009 Newberry, I knew I had to read it. The Graveyard Book does not disappoint.

This is the story of a boy who lost his entire family as an infant to a mysterious murderer. He wandered from his home into the nearby graveyard where the dead and undead inhabitants take him in and protect him from those who want to destroy him. As he grows, he stumbles across adventure after adventure within the graveyard.

It's hard to decide what Neil Gaiman is best at. His world-building is excellent, his prose is gorgeous, and his characterization is excellent. The one thing that was a bit shaky in this book was the plot because there really isn't much of one. This is essentially a group of short stories tied in to a very basic plot. But the stories are so good, you won't mind.

The Graveyard Book is about a young boy who escapes when his entire family is murdered. He flees to a nearby graveyard where he meets the ghosts of the people who were buried there. Mr. and Mrs. Owens (two of the ghosts) decide to raise the boy as their own. They name him Nobody, or Bod for short. Bod isn't allowed to leave the graveyard because the man who killed his family is still out there looking for him...

This book was given to me as a gift. I feel like too many questions were left unanswered. I'm kind of confused about a lot of what happened, and why it happened, in this book. I feel like the plot was lost during the middle of the book; it was just about life in the graveyard. It picked up near the end, though, which was good. I'm not sure if I agree that a boy becomes a man at 15 and is old enough to be on his own at that point, but that's OK. Overall, the book was OK. ( )

I listened to the audiobook read by Neil Gaiman - it was great! I'm a sucker for a British accent, but Neil went way beyond that in his reading. Great story! ( )