Ethan

The Graveyard Book is a 2008 novel written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean. It is a mild fictitious horror story suitable for all ages. A young boy’s family is killed my the man Jack, but the boy escapes and wanders out of his house and up the street into a cemetery, where friendly and ghosts decide to care for him and raise him—in the graveyard. His name becomes “Bod”, short for “Nobody Owens” and he is appointed a guardian in the graveyard who belongs neither to the living nor the dead. As he grows older, he wants to go out into the world and explore beyond the fence of the cemetery, but the concerned and caring deads of the graveyard will not let him because the man Jack is still searching for Bod. This story takes many turns and twists and the suspense and wonder makes it nearly impossible to stop reading at any point.
 * The Graveyard Book ** **by Neil Gaiman **
 * About the Book **

 Neil Gaiman, 51 and born in England, is a famous author of short fiction, novels, and comic books. He writes in genres of Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction, and Dark fantasy. His comic book series The Sandman ran from January 1989 to March 1996. Gaiman is first author ever to win both the Newberry and the Carnegie medals for the same piece of work. His other publications include Stardust (1998), Coraline (2002), M Is for Magic (2007), and Odd and the Frost Giants (2008). Gaiman is one of the most popular fantasy and horror authors of the past few decades and has been received incredibly well. He is also an active user of social networking: he has over 1.7 million followers on Twitter.
 * About the Author **

 A young boy named Bod is raised in a graveyard by ghosts. His “parents” are Mr. and Mrs. Owens, and his appointed guardian is Silas. As he is growing up, he explores the large graveyard and meets many dead folks, including a witch, Liza Hempstock, and Nehemiah Trot, a famous poet. Also, he runs into a young girl his age who takes walks around the graveyard and becomes friends with her. He also meets several ghouls, including the 33rd President of the United States, and is deceived at times by negative influences around him. His life is extremely different than most children because he does not grow up in a normal home and a normal environment. Bod cannot leave the graveyard because he is then in danger of the man Jack who killed Bod’s family and is still searching for the little one.
 * Characters and Conflict **

Neil Gaiman implies that not only do parents raise children, but an entire community does--grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and neighbors. In this instance, it takes a graveyard to raise a little boy into a fine young man.
 * Theme **

The Graveyard Book is a perfect work of mystery and horror for all ages. The style in which Gaimon writes is exemplary and captures one’s attention and interest immediately. While reading this fantastic novel, one will find it nearly impossible to find a place to put the book down for the day. As soon as it seems that things are calming down and that there is nothing more appealing, more suspense and mystery pick up. Feeling what it is like to be raised in a graveyard is a unique and very interesting situation and this is a must-read for anybody who has ever been a child.
 * Review **

In The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman uses pace and syntax to establish his unique writing style throughout the novel. He uses long sentences to deeply analyze each scene in great detail.
 * Style **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: medium;">"There was a gardener's hut at the far end of the graveyard, a small green building that smelled like motor oil, and in which the old mower sat and rusted, unused, along with an assortment of ancient garden tools. The hud had been abandoned when the last gardener had retired, before Bod was born, and the task of keeping the graveyard had been shared between the council and the local volunteers in the Friends of the Graveyard. (Gaiman 119)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">"A magpie flew up as she walked in, a flash of black and white iridescent green, and settled in the branches of a yew tree, watching her. Around that corner, she thought, is a church, with a bench in front of it, and she turned the corned to see a church--much smaller than the one in her head, a sinister blocky little Gothic building of grey stone, with a jutting spire. In front of it was a weathered wooden bench. She walked over, sat down on the bench, and swing her legs as if she was still a little girl." (Gaiman 220)

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gaiman also establishes a 3rd-person omniscient point of view throughout the story. The reader is able to see and understand the minds of Bod, Scarlett (his friend), the man Jack, and a few other characters throughout the story. Gaiman also exudes an interesting paragraph and chapter structure. When he is describing settings and atmospheres in great detail, his paragraphs are somewhat long...taking up nearly one side of a page at times. However, when the characters are in action and action is taking place, the paragraphs are much shorter...only a few lines at most. In my opinion, this makes the story incredibly effective and easy to read. All related detail is combined into one paragraph so comprehending it is quite simple. Paragraphs end when the spotlight switches to a different topic and it would be hard to confuse anything.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gaiman also has a unique tone in his award-winning novel. He, as an author, does not have any attitude towards the story. Instead, he simply lets the characters in the book establish the tone. Much of the book is calm and creepy, but there are times when action picks up for short periods of time.

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 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;">Works Consulted **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Broadhead, Heidi. “Amazon.com Review.” Amazon. Amazon.com, Inc., n.d. Web. 18 May 2012.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"><http://www.amazon.com/The-Graveyard-Book-Neil-Gaiman/dp/product-description/0060530944/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books>

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">“From Bookmarks Magazine.” Amazon. Amazon.com, Inc., 2008. Web. 18 May 2012. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"><http://www.amazon.com/The-Graveyard-Book-Neil-Gaiman/dp/product-description/0060530944/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books>

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 16px;">Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. New York: 2008. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Koelling, Holly. “From Booklist.” Amazon. Amazon.com, Inc., n.d. Web. 18 May 2012. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"><http://www.amazon.com/The-Graveyard-Book-Neil-Gaiman/dp/product-description/0060530944/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books>