The Graveyard Book

For Halloween, I recently gave a copy of The Graveyard Book, a novel by Neil Gaiman, to Ferris and Freya, the son and daughter of one of my (overworked and underpaid) proofreaders, Pete "Typolino" Toccalino. As you can see they're finding it pretty scary...

Okay, maybe they aren't that scared. In fact, Pete says...
The Graveyard Book is a children’s story about a boy who barely escapes death as a toddler, crawling his way to a local graveyard, where he spends the next decade-and-a-half being raised by century-old ghosts, guarded by a vampire and tutored by a werewolf.

My brother, who's a big Neil Gaiman fan, sent my son a copy for his birthday five years ago. Here's a book review Jonah recorded on YouTube when he was ten...
 
While I wouldn't rank it as one of the greatest novels ever written — unlike Tim Ferris who rates the audiobook as the best ever produced — it's certainly a page-turner with a unique and entertaining coming-of-age story that both kids and adults can enjoy. And the dark humour and all around spookiness of the prose makes it a perfect Halloween treat. (Though, if you drop a book in the pillowcase of your average trick-or-treating kid, they may take it as more trick than treat.)

The 10th anniversary edition of The Graveyard Book includes a foreword by Margaret Atwood, as well as sketches from the illustrator, handwritten drafts, and Neil Gaiman’s Newbery acceptance speech. You can find out more about this modern-day classic at NeilGaiman.com or MouseCircus.com.

—John C. A. Manley

PS For another photo of the Toccalino kids (this time, with their parents and tiny dog), along with a review by Pete of my novel Much Ado About Corona, head on over here.

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