I read Neil Gaiman’s THE GRAVEYARD BOOK on a flight to Florida recently, and enjoyed it very much. I’ve not been a big Gaiman fan in the past—though I did find CORALINE interesting reading. The man is a wiz at creating suspense.

 

Being a librarian, I’m also especially curious about the buzz a book gets. There was some grumbling that this book was too episodic with not much holding the episodes together. It is episodic, but I think it holds together well. In each of the episodes he finds an ally, or learns a task, technique, or trick that he later employs in defeating the Jacks of all trades.

 

There are those who say the book is too dark, starting as it does with the murders of his parents and his sister. Yes, it is dark. Yes, it does start that way . . . but we see no blood, no gore, no fighting, etc. However, we are riveted in suspense as the man called Jack searches for the boy to murder him, also.

 

What is especially fresh and exciting is the weaving together of history and other stock characters of horror fiction to create a caring community in a graveyard—in this case, not to raise the dead, but to raise a live child. I love the wild inventiveness of this story; though I might not give it to a child younger than eleven or twelve to read. Hurrah for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK and its Newbery medal.

 

Keep Reading!

Shutta