And Then There Were Two

The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
Harper Collins

My friend Jill loaned me her copy of this book in August of 2009.  I adore Neil Gaiman (have you read his blog?) and I had heard nothing but good things about his most recent novel.  When I got home from Kemptville, I put the book on my beside table fully intending that it would be the next one on my list.  And there it sat.  Unread and unloved.  Poor, wee book.

Flash forward to the fall of 2010.  I was out for a birthday dinner with my mostly best friend and in addition to showering me with love and laughs and decent grub, he brought me gifts.  Included in the red paper bag (he's a boy, they don't do pretty with friends) was my Christmas gift from 2009.  And yes, it was a copy of the Graveyard book.

That decided it.  As soon as I got home, I picked up Jill's copy -- still sitting on my nightstand -- and was immediately lost.  The book opens with the mysterious murder of the protagonist's family.  Somehow, the toddler (yes, I typed toddler) escapes and wanders into the graveyard that is up the street from him home.  Understanding that the baby is still being pursued by his family's attackers, the graveyard occupants -- ghosts from across different centuries -- decide to bend the rules in this place of the dead and raise the baby themselves.  The toddler, who is renamed Nobody Owens, grows up in a rather unconventional environment and goes on to do some rather extraordinary things.

Bod (well ... you can't be Nobody forever) is heroic, gentle, loving, funny, sad, kind, wise, naive, and beautiful.  He's definitely worth getting to know and I'm glad that I read the book when I did.  Thanks for sharing Jilly Bean.  I  get why you gave it to me when you -- I just wasn't ready.

Five beautiful fairy tales out of five.  And oh yeah -- as for the the title of this post, please say hello to the next contender for the DES book of the year.