I somehow missed reading this book when it won the Newbery Medal in 2009. I noticed it while looking up this year’s winner. Naturally, as a lover of all things supernatural, science-fiction-y, fantastic and YA, I snagged it at the library.
The first line is, “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” The man holding the knife, Jack, just murdered a family. The last one alive, the baby, toddled away during the gruesome crime and is hidden by ghosts in the graveyard down the street. The ghosts name him Nobody (Bod for short) and raise him in the graveyard. He is not allowed to leave for fear of the murderer, who is still looking for him. Bod’s other caretaker is a man named Silas, who only comes out at sundown and is gone by sunup (hmmm?), and who brings him food. As Bod grows, he learns about the unseen world and beings, meets a girl named Scarlett, and longs to join the real world and find the murderer of his family. But while he pursues these things, Jack is still looking for him, to finish what he began many years ago…
I loved this book on so many levels. First – okay, seriously, the first chapter is the scariest first chapter EVER. I read that first page and thought, This is a kid’s book? I don’t recommend it for your first grader, but certainly for preteens. It is deliciously chilling without being gory. For example, Gaiman does not use the word blood, but tells you the knife is wet. Yah, this ain’t your mama’s Nancy Drew!
Second – it is a fun, fast-paced action-adventure story with a terrifying villain and a gentle, serious young hero. The elements of the fantastic are so fresh because Gaiman describes his characters the way Bod sees them; as normal, everyday people who happen to be ghosts, ghouls, werewolves and vampires. Bod has many adventures with scary beings in the graveyard, and there is never a dull moment.
Third, it is a story about a boy learning to be human among non-humans (and Gaiman has said he owes a great debt to Kipling’s The Jungle Book). His friendship with Scarlett is the saddest part for me – that she would rather forget him than remember the scary monsters he just saved her from. His brief stint at school was the other depressing part – kids can be so mean! Bod never gives up though. When he grows too old to stay in the graveyard, he meets the world with optimism and courage. I love that!
Truly, this book is just as good for adults as it is for kids.
I give it 5 STACKS!
See you in the STACKS,
Nancy - who is going to check out Gaiman’s other YA book Coraline soon!
Have you seen it yet? That novel with the cute, black dog on the cover? 
