The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman

Gaiman, Neil (2008).
The Graveyard Book
New York: HarperCollins
978-0060530921
Genre: Supernatural/Horror Fiction

Raised since he was a baby by ghosts, werewolves, and other residents of the cemetery in which he has always resided, Bod wonders how he will manage to survive amongst the living with only the lessons he has learned from the dead.
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The man “Jack” has set out to murder the only survivor of a family he has slaughtered; however, once Jack ascends the staircase in the home, he realizes that the 18-month-old toddler is gone. The innocent child has curiously tumbled down the stairs and out the door in an effort to satisfy his curiosity of the world. He wanders into a nearby graveyard where the ghosts, Mr. and Mrs. Owen, who never had children of their own, insist on adopting the child and renaming him Nobody Owens. The residents of the graveyard, including Caius Pompeius, Victor Hugo as well as a young witch and others, vote and decide the Bod may stay and have freedom of the graveyard. Silas, a vampire of sorts, agrees to be Bod’s guardian and travel to the outside to get food for Bod. Inspired by Kipling’s Mowgli tales, Gaiman creates an endearing and still creepy tale which readers will find difficult to put down. Bod experiences many adventures inside and outside of the graveyard from eluding ghouls, escaping thieving pawnbrokers, befriending living and not living beings, to attending school with the living. All the while, Gaiman creates an endearing child who fades into the background when needed as only nobody can. Mysterious Silas intrigues as readers learn that he is fighting the Fraternal Order of Jacks (Jack-of-All-Trades) who is determined to murder Bod, and Miss Lupescu is an especially memorable guardian who shape shifts. The climax occurs when Bod reconnects with an old friend, and they investigate his heritage; the historian who helps them is the man Jack in disguise. Bod confronts Jack, and the result proves that Nobody has indeed grown into a young man who is ready to leave the graveyard and enter the world.