I finished The Graveyard Book about 4 minutes ago, so my brain is still whirling a bit. Neil Gaiman is quite a story teller. When I initially read the synopsis of this book--something along the lines of "Nobody Owens is a boy raised in a graveyard by ghosts"--I had my doubts. I also knew it was a children's book, though I must emphasize that it's for older children. The first few pages describe a family being stabbed to death, so please don't read this to your 6-year-old.But I should have trusted Gaiman to weave an engaging, exciting, and touching tale. Bod (as Nobody is known) and his supernatural guardians represent a fascinating cast of characters. Those first few pages are brutal, but they immediately engage the reader. And honestly, though I enjoyed the Harry Potter series as much as anyone, I think if I were to encourage young readers to read about a young person in a magical setting, I'd go to this book first. It's a bit darker, but also better written and leaves a bit more to the reader's imagination (which is a good thing).
I'm a bit too tried to blather much more, but I will say that as with Gaiman's other children's novel, Coraline, I highly reccomend this book. It's a quick but satisfying read for an adult, and it's a story I'm sure some kids will want to read over and over.
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