Title: The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: HarperCollins 2008

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 325

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Neil Gaiman; ebook; Book Bingo -- 3 from everyone but me; The Fantasy Project

How I Got It: iPad read

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family. . . .

This book has been on my list for awhile now.  I participated in The Fantasy Project's Wheel of Fortune challenge and this book came up for September/October.  Truly I had forgotten what this one was supposed to be about and when I read the summary, I got a bit of a shock.  A few weeks ago I read Gaiman's M is for Magic short story collection.  That collection includes a story of Bod.  I enjoyed that story, but felt like there was so much more to tell.  Thankfully Gaiman thought so too and wrote an entire book around Bod.

This was a delightful little book.  I loved every minute of it.  Gaiman gives us a full story, but broken down into chapters that read almost like separate adventures.  The style reminded me of The Hobbit.  Each chapter is a story perfect for telling to children at bedtime.  I loved all of the characters, especially Silas.  I loved the adventures of Bod in and out of the graveyard.  I was sad but happy at the ending.  I wanted to read more about where Bod went after his time in the graveyard.  I wanted to learn more about the Honour Guard.  I wanted to see if Bod ever met with Scarlett again.  This book was amazing.  I think I will put it on the reading list for the boys.