Module 4: Newbery Winners
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Gaiman, N. (2008). The Graveyard Book. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Plot Summary:
The story begins with a family being murdered by the man Jack, all except for the youngest child. The toddler had climbed out of this crib and wanders out of the house, up the hill, and to the graveyard. The ghosts find him and the Owens, a ghost couple, decide to adopt him based on a desperate plea by the toddler's mother's spirit. After the other ghosts of the graveyard have consulted one another and the Lady on the Grey, they decide to grand him the Freedom of the Graveyard. The toddler is named Nobody Owens and Silias, the caretaker, accepts the responsibility of being Nobody's guardian.
Throughout the chapters, Nobody, or Bod for short, goes on several adventures over the years. First, he meets a girl named Scarlett and they become fast friends. After their first encounter, Scarlett's parents think that Bod is imaginary and convince Scarlett of that fact. Scarlett and Bod go investigate a grave of the oldest inhabitant of the graveyard and encounter the Sleer. When they return from their adventure, Scarlett's parents believe that she has gone missing and are very upset. Soon, they decide to move to Scotland for her father's job in particle physics and Scarlett says her goodbye to Bod. "You are the bravest person I know, and you are my friend. I don't care if you are imaginary." (pg. 60)
In his next adventure, Bod is captured by ghouls. At the time, Silas is away on business and he has placed Miss Lupescu as Bod's temporary guardian. Unhappy with Miss Lupescu's food and teaching methods, Bod wanders around the graveyard and is lured into danger by ghouls who promise him delicious food and happiness. After his is captured, Bod decides that he does not want to be a ghoul and cries for help. He is eventually rescued by Miss Lupescu, who turns out to be a Hound of God or werewolf. She returns Bod up from the land of ghouls and to Silas. Bod has formed a new friendship with Miss Lupescu and requests to have her return to look after him when Silas is away.
As Bod grows older, he becomes more curious about the graveyard and its inhabitants. It is known that a witch was buried outside the sacred ground of the graveyard and Bod investigates. While near the edge of Potter's Field, Bod is trying to reach an apple, falls, and injures himself. The ghost of Elizabeth Hempstock, the witch, helps him and tells him her story. She is very bitter about not having a gravestone of her own. Bod, hoping to make Elizabeth (or Liza) smile, sets off to get her a headstone. He decides that the best course of action would be to sell the brooch from the Sleer and use the money from the sale to buy the headstone. He goes to a pawn shop owner, Abanazer Bolger, to make a deal. Abanazer is a greedy man and wants to keep the stone for himself as well as find the grave which Bod found the brooch in order to loot it for more treasure. He locks Bod in a back room and calls his associate, Tom, to help him get more information about the treasure. Liza has followed Bod and asks him what is going on. He explains himself and Liza agrees to help him. She goes out an observes Abanazer and Tom. Abanazer believes that Bod might be the boy who the man Jack is looking for. He pulls out a black rimmed card with instructions on how to summon the man Jack. Liza returns to Bod and helps him Fade so that he cannot be found by Abanazer and Tom. When they cannot find Bod, the two argue and fight. Bod and Liza escape and take the brooch and the card with them. Bod returns the brooch to the Sleer and gives the card to Silas, who takes an interest in it. Bod then makes Liza a headstone from a paperweight and paints that he nicked from Abanazer's shop.
When Bod is about 10, he begins to learn about the Macabary, a dance for both the living and the dead. Bod goes though the Old Town and sees all of the townsfolk pinning white flowers to themselves. There is a large amount of music and soon everyone is dancing together, the dead and the living. For the final dance, Bod is joined by the Lady on the Grey. When the clock chimes twelves, the music stops and the living return to their normal lives. When he awakens from his nap, Bod merrily talks about the dancing, but no one seems to remember it. Bod confronts Silas about it. While Silas confirms that something may have happened, he refuses to speak further on it because, "Because there are mysteries. Because there are things that people are forbidden to speak about. Because there are things they do not remember." (pg. 164)
After this final jaunt, the story refocuses on the man Jack. I don't want to spoil the ending; however, I will say that Bod joins Silas and Miss Lupescu in finding Jack as well as his "Jack of All Trades" society. Scarlett also joins in for the event and Bod must consider his life in the graveyard. Read it and you will love it.
Impressions:
The Graveyard Book completely sucked me in. I completed it in a single sitting. I highly enjoyed that each chapter was pretty much a miniature story of a part of Bod's life. It would make for a great story time book for older children or a bedtime story book. The stories could be stand-alone tales, but they did all come back to the overall tale of Bod and the man Jack.
Reviews:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. (2010, May 20). Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/neil-gaiman/the-graveyard-book/
"Childhood fears take solid shape in the nursery-rhyme-inspired villains, while heroism is its own, often bitter, reward. Closer to tone to American Gods than Coraline, but permeated with Bod's innocence, this needs to be ready y anyone who is or has ever been a child."
Ness, P. (2008). Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/oct/25/booksforchildrenandteenagers-neilgaiman
"Gaiman's narratives tend toward the episodic, and there are chapters of The Graveyard Book that could stand alone as discrete short stories. All the better for reading at bedtime, though, and what's lost in forward momentum is more than made up for by the outrageous riches of Gaiman's imagination. Every page is crowded with invention, both funny and scary, such as the dour Miss Lupescu, who comes to teach Bod unpleasant lessons, or the final mythology of why Bod is being hunted. Gaiman's villains are a creation so creepy I would happily read a whole other novel just about them. And yes, they are indeed a pack of terrifying murderers, but children's books have always been filled with death - you can't have an orphan without at least two dead people, after all - and Gaiman's ultimate lesson is exactly right: get to know it, make friends with it, then forget about it and live your life."
"While “The Graveyard Book” will entertain people of all ages, it’s especially a tale for children. Gaiman’s remarkable cemetery is a place that children more than anyone would want to visit. They would certainly want to look for Silas in his chapel, maybe climb down (if they were as brave as Bod) to the oldest burial chamber, or (if they were as reckless) search for the ghoul gate. Children will appreciate Bod’s occasional mistakes and bad manners, and relish his good acts and eventual great ones. The story’s language and humor are sophisticated, but Gaiman respects his readers and trusts them to understand.
I read the last of “The Graveyard Book” to my class on a gloomy day. For close to an hour there were the sounds of only rain and story. In this novel of wonder, Neil Gaiman follows in the footsteps of long-ago storytellers, weaving a tale of unforgettable enchantment."
Library Use Suggestions:
In fifth grade, my English teacher would read us a chapter or two of various books before our creative writing time. It was meant to inspire or spur us on during our writing. It also illustrated how we could write to tell a story in a more creative way. This is an example of a book that would be awesome for this purpose.
No comments:
Post a Comment