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Online Mall - The Graveyard Book
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List Price: $17.99
Our Price: $9.35
Your Save: $ 8.64 ( 48% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780060530921
ISBN: 0060530928
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2008-10-01
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Release Date: 2008-09-30
Studio: HarperCollins
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Of course it's a great book, but check out the illustrations.
Comment: What I can say about Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book that hasn't already been said? By now, everyone pretty much knows that it's an homage to the Jungle Books and that most everything that Gaiman works on is excellent. The only real item of value to add is that it's like the Mowgli stories in the Jungle Books, not the Jungle Books in their entirety. I suspect that that's what most people think of when they think of "The Jungle Books", so no one should be much disappointed at the lack of a ghoulish Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
So, with everyone understanding that it's good and all, it's worth buying and reading and well made (as many books these days are not), I'm going to stop talking about Neil's work right now.
Instead, I'm going to talk about Dave McKean.
Dave McKean illustrated this book and did so in a style the blends dark and domineering black pen with light and subtle watercolors (in grey, of course). At the beginning of the story, it's pretty heavy and the art overwhelms the text, but after that it's just a little illustration here and a little one there. Hilary Zarychy, aside from having a last name that I have no idea how to pronounce, did a wonderful job on the typesetting, so the text flows along with the art, showing that the two work together to create one hole, but (and this is VERY important) at no point does the text become difficult to read.
See, a lot of books these days are "illustrated" simply because certain types of books are supposed to be illustrated. However, when you have a book where the illustrations blend together with the story, it creates a whole that is remembered as story and images -- forming a solid marker in the memory that forever reminds one of the experience of reading the story. There are a few books that manage to blend the art and the story together this way, Catherine Coblentz's Blue Cat of Castle Town (Illustrated by Janice Holland and available online for free here), Ruth Stiles Gannett's My Father's Dragon (Illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett and available online for free here) and many of Thornton Burgess's early books (Illustrated by Harrison Cady) come to mind. The Graveyard Book joins this small set of books that will always hold a place in my mind.
I open the book to a random page, 142 to be precise, and I see a small painted stone on a bed of leaves. The lines are simple but definite. The composition is straightforward and uncomplicated. However, I immediately remember the story, the characters, the fear and the sadness. I remember sitting in my brown recliner, reading by the yellow light of my halogen lamp, with a blanket over my legs and two cats sleeping on me. The room is silent and the day's concerns have slipped away as I wander through the life that is Bod's.
That's what illustrations are supposed to do. That's why this book is special beyond the writing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: one of the Gaiman's best, and that's sure saying something.
Comment: The Jungle Book but with a Graveyard instead of a Jungle. And that's really all I should have to say in recommendation. But, with Gaiman, there's always beautiful prose and gorgeous details (in description of the world of the graveyard, the epitaphs, the monsters and villains) that make his books more than just a great idea. Nobody Owens, the sole survivor after his family is murdered by a man Jack, is raised by the graveyard, living between the borders of life and death, just as Mowgli lived between civilization and the wilderness. Silas, my favorite character, his guardian, also lives in the borders. Nobody's childhood is spent in the world of the graveyard, with ghosts as teachers and playmates, stones and mausoleums as a playground. As he grows older, he must begin to make the transition into the world of the living, as well as face the dangers in that world. The characters are beautiful and fantastic in this thoroughly clever book, which is easily one of Gaiman's best. As someone who spent a lot of her childhood in a graveyard and still has an affinity for them, I love this book. Grade: A
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Pleasant read, but reliant on cleverness and short on substance
Comment: I can't imagine anyone saying they're not a Neil Gaiman fan. He is an exceptional storyteller, and a master at infusing the novel, the unique, and the off-skew into his stories.
The Graveyard Book has all of the elements of Gaiman's unique abilities embedded within the story. I marvel at the breadth of his originality and imagination. I found The Graveyard Book to be a great literary snack, no matter that it is essentially a children's fantasy novel. It is also, however, devoid of weight.
As the story of the novel's genesis goes, the idea that inspired Gaiman to write the book was one long in incubation. The actual writing, however, began in Chapter 4, according to the author, and the book reads exactly so - like it was begun in the middle, with numerous clever novelties sewn together by a master storyteller, but at the end of the day lacking in the sort of coherent gravity that makes a book great - and in my case, that garners a 5 star rating.
I would encourage anyone to read the book. It is, as I said, a great snack. Gaiman's imagination and imagery are worth a look every time, but this book is a sitcom. It's a neatly packaged riff. But even children's books can have gravity, and in fact one might argue that they, more than any other, should.
The Jacks of All Trades, as they are described in the book, have no apparent reason for being. They're a serviceable boogeyman, but no more. The convenience of a certain ritualistic trio of artifacts at the end of the book goes unexplained. The whim of the Sleer at the end is a bit like having a Mack truck take out the bad-guy at the end of a story rather than the creativity, ingenuity, effort, or sacrifice of the hero. The artifice of the Sleer is too apparent, its convenience too great to create a compelling conclusion.
Short of the novelty of a vampire, werewolf, and mummy, what is the nature of this Order counter to the Jack of All Trades? What is its purpose?
The relationships between all the moving parts are just a little too tenuous to build the suspense, drama or caring that could take a novel idea, and a great character in Bod, to the next level.
By the end of the book, most everything that Bod needed to do was done for him by others. What are his great lessons? What is he carrying into the next phase of his life except a novel childhood? "The girl" will have no memories of him. He no longer seems to have any of the attributes his "Run of the Graveyard" gave him. His enemies were defeated for him so he no longer has that purpose. It doesn't seem like much. Thus, it doesn't leave the reader with much either.
I liked the book. It was fun. The imagery, dialogue, and characters amused. I might even read it again. But even this novel has the potential to be so much more - to mean¬ so much more. For those books that do, I offer 5 stores. Neil just wasn't trying that hard this time. Due to the opportunity missed, I grant 3. Still, heartily recommend the read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An enchanting read
Comment: This book takes the reader to the world of Bod Owens, a young boy who is orphaned and taken under the protective wing of the inhabitants of a graveyard. The ghosts and creatures who raise and protect him demonstrate the kindness, love, warmth, and wisdom that we all hope to receive from a family.
I purchased the book after hearing Mr. Gaiman give a talk in which he described the original inspiration for the story and read an excerpt. After hearing his reading I could not wait to read the book and was not disappointed.
The story offers so many gifts - it is funny, poignant, thrilling, scary,
and mysterious. I was sorry that the story had to end, and that is something that I wish I could say about every book I have read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Left a little underwhelmed.
Comment: This is the second book of Gaiman's that I've read, Coraline being the first. While this was far better than Coraline, I was still left a little underwhelmed.
Don't get me wrong, I liked the book. But there were times when I just didn't enjoy reading it. It was slow at times, and I found myself silently begging for something more exciting to happen. I finally got my wish towards the end.
Bod is a different type of character, but he's very likable. You find yourself wanting the very best for him.
If you're a fan of Gaiman's work, you'll most likely love this book.
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Editorial Reviews:
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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. . . . Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, the graveyard book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.
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