'Reading and Thinking.com' content is reader-supported. "As an Amazon Associate, When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission." Learn more.

About - Muhiuddin Alam

About - Muhiuddin Alam

Hello, I am Muhiuddin Alam founder of ReadingAndThinking.com.
Read Popular Fiction, Novels, Nonfiction & Storybooks Recommendations, and Reviews All In One Place.
I designed easy navigation on this site to enhance your reading experience and try to give you all the information related to the books in simple language.
I try to recommend books by author and subject. I hope this site is useful & helpful to you. Thanks for being here.
Learn more.


My Publishing

Book Review - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Book Review - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Publisher: HarperCollins Publication Year: 2008-1-1 Pages: 312

On this page...

Introduction to "The Graveyard Book"

A baby. A cemetery. The end of an assassination, the beginning of a legend. In the cemetery. There are ghosts. There are also mysterious guardians. 

Even the god of death went on his own. (Don't worry. She is a kind lady.) In the human world, there are liars, villains, and ordinary people. There is also a naive little girl.

Growth story, magic practice. Adventure experience, the first love of a teenager. Throughout the book is the battle of assassination and revenge.

The gloom of the cemetery reflects the warmth of the ghost. The noisy world is indifferent and ruthless. 

But in the end, the teenagers who grew up in the cemetery will still bid farewell to the past. Towards society. To adulthood...


  • A cemetery is a place full of love, full of infinite nostalgia, and love for the living.
  • "Graveyard Book" is a fantasy classic that has won 20 international awards! Hugo Award, Track Award, Newbury Gold Award, Carnegie Award, Sybils Award, Wozara Award, Horn Book Award...
  • "Graveyard Book" has been nominated for 5 international awards: the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Creative Literature Award, the Walden Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award!
  • "Graveyard Book" has been published in 164 editions around the world, and 1 million copies have been sold crazily, and 400,000 Goodreads are rarely praised.
  • "Graveyard Book" is a bestseller in "New York Times", "Times" Top Ten Novels of the Year, American Book E-commerce Top Ten Novels of the Year, Novels Recommended by Cox Book Review, Novels Recommended by the American Booksellers Association, New York The public library recommends novels.
  • A warm fantasy journey about growth, magic, ghosts, and death. The adaptation of the film is being produced by Disney.
  • After reading "Graveyard Book", you will no longer be afraid of wandering alone, and no longer taboo darkness and death.
  • I love "Graveyard Book" far more than all my other works. --Neil Gaiman
  • Introduced classic original illustrations for the first time, recreating the original style of the original.
—————————————
  • A cemetery is a warm place. This is a very natural place. You know people lived and died.--Neil Gaiman
  • Neil Gaiman is a treasure trove of stories, and we are lucky to have him.--Stephen King
  • "Graveyard Book" is a growth education novel based on the growth of the protagonist. Norbert has many unusual teachers: many ghosts, a vampire, and a female werewolf. In addition, he also possesses some supernatural powers that the dead living in the cemetery gave him.——Margaret Atwood, author of "The Handmaid's Tale"
  • The fantasy novel "Graveyard Book" is sometimes exciting, witty, and sometimes dangerous, which is worrying. Neil Gaiman follows in the footsteps of storytellers in the past, weaving an unforgettable and fascinating story. --"New York Times"
  • I love "Graveyard Book" far more than all my other works.--Neil Gaiman
  • One of the joys of reading Gaiman is to see how he subverts our expectations of magic, horror, fantasy, and worldliness.--"The Times"
  • The adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "Graveyard Book" makes us very excited.——President of Disney Production
  • After reading "Graveyard Book", you will only feel full of sunshine in your heart and have a positive belief in the life of tomorrow and the life waiting for you.--Reader comments
  • In the dark and cold cemetery, the stone tablets, nettles, dead people, and the little beasts that haunt them are all warm to the boy, not only because they are protecting him, but because they are so cute in themselves.--Reader comments



  • The Graveyard Book  
  • Author: Neil Gaiman
  • Publisher: HarperCollins
  • Publication Year: 2008-1-1
  • Pages: 312
  • Binding: Hardcover

About the Author (the graveyard Neil Gaiman)

Contemporary master fantasy novelist, born in England in 1960. Neil Gaiman is a dazzling new star in contemporary European and American literary circles and is hailed as one of the top ten postmodern writers by The Dictionary of Literary Biography.

In 1989, Gaiman started his creation with the comic "The Sandman". Since then, his creation has gradually covered novels, comics, poems, scripts, and other fields. His representative works include "American Gods", "Nordic Gods", "Stardust", and "Good Omen". 

Because of the unique style and imagination of his works, the "Miami New Times" believes that he has become a "rock star in the literary world"; Stephen King, the master of thriller fiction, believes that his "rich creative power and high standard of work are both magical" It's scary again."

"Graveyard Book" was conceived 23 years, and it is the greatest work of Gaiman's creative career. Gaiman believes that the "Graveyard Book" surpassed his expectations and even surpassed himself. The adaptation of the film is being produced by Disney.

"Graveyard Book" was inspired by the 25-year-old Gaiman who saw his 18-month-old son riding a tricycle in a nearby cemetery. Since then, the idea of writing a "Graveyard Book" has been fermenting in Gaiman's mind. In 2008, Gaiman completed the writing of Graveyard Book, and his son happened to be 25 years old that year.


Excerpts from the original text: The Graveyard Book

Some people seem to hold the idea that books that you can enjoy and books that are good for you are opposed to each other, and you must choose one side, and everyone should choose the other side. But from the past to the present, I have always disagreed with this view. I still think that you have to choose your favorite book.——Quote from Neil Gaiman's speech at the American Library Association Annual Meeting. 


Reasons for recommending: "the graveyard book graphic novel"

The book has won 20 international awards including the Hugo Award, the Track Award, the New Burleigh Gold Award, the Carnegie Award, the Sevier Award, the Wozara Award, and the Horn Flute Award.

The author Neil Gaiman is a modern fantasy novelist. Representative works include "American Gods".

I am a person who is afraid of ghosts, but the cover of this book is very interesting and does not look so scary. I couldn't put it down when I opened it, and it took two days to finish reading.

"Graveyard Book," says that the family was killed and only one baby was left. The baby came to the cemetery by mistake. The ghosts took him back, named him Nobody, and raised him.

Seeing such a story, I am very curious about how Novati grew up in the cemetery, how the ghosts treated him, who killed his family, and what would happen to his identity when he grew up.

A mystery urged me to look down. Norbert has been to vampires and witches, werewolves and death gods, ghouls and fog people, high-altitude hunters and god dogs, as well as the tomb of ghouls where people who encounter loneliness are hidden, sleepwalking, and learn horror. 

The dance of the gods of death and the undead, as well as the very touching friendship and affection. Upon reading, you will find that there is warm and soft darkness in the tomb, and ghosts are more humane than living people.

I thought this book was about the growth history of children. After reading the last chapter, I realized that this is more of a "Parent's Book".


Author Neil Gaiman said: 

"I finished the last page in the gazebo in my garden, and while I was writing, I managed to bear tears. Only at that moment, did I understand why I didn't write this book when I was a father. 

Because before I created it, I had to First accompany my children through their growth process, nurture them, love them, and learn to let go at the end."

Therefore, if you have a growing child in your family, you can find the "parent's book" hidden behind the "childhood book". From the perspective of the child and the parent, the love and attachment in the cemetery are very touching.

If you are afraid of ghosts, this book will eliminate the horror that reflects the conditions of ghosts and gods.

Of course, if you have a long time and want to read simple and interesting novels to pass the time, it is also highly recommended. This is a book that is as powerful as the main text until the latter part of the book.


Short Comment: The Graveyard Book

I finished reading this fantasy novel today. It's very beautiful, but I didn't expect Silas to be a vampire and didn't write any mistakes he made. I personally feel that the reason Jack wants to kill Bod is too ridiculous. 

When I saw Bod leave the cemetery in the end, I felt so sad, although it was written that he left with a smile and expecting an unknown world. 

Alas, life is like this. Growing up under the care and education of relatives, until the day of adulthood, you will always embark on the journey of life alone, and there will be fewer and fewer relatives along the way with the passage of time, the unknown road to the rest of your life, For good or bad, you have to brave yourself to the end. 


The Graveyard Book Book Review

As a mother with considerable seniority, I am no stranger to recent popular lists such as "Where is the best place to be a mother" and "Which country is the most child-friendly"; as a bookworm, sometimes it is inevitable to wonder: Where did the children in the literature grow up?

The child's name is Nobody (Nobody, meaning "no one"), from The Graveyard Book. Yes, he grew up in a cemetery.

The first time I read "Graveyard Book" was almost a year ago, and I still remember the joyfulness of reading the book with full consciousness without letting it go. This book is the work of British writer Neil Gaiman, published in 2008, and belongs to children's fantasy. 

After publication, he won the 2010 British Carnegie Award and the 2009 American Newbery Award (Carnegie Medal and Newbery Medal are the highest awards for children's literature in the United Kingdom and the United States respectively), and the winner of the 2009 American Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Award Hugo Award. 

But when I was reading it, I didn't care about these titles. I just thought this story was so wonderful and it suits my appetite.

It opens with cold-blooded murder. The first sentence is "There is a hand in the dark, holding a knife in his hand." The killer washed the Norbert family with blood. Norbert, who was less than one year old, escaped by chance and finally came to a cemetery.

The style of the painting has changed here, and the background is still dark and horrible, but the cute ghosts have appeared. The ghosts in this cemetery come from different historical periods and have different personalities. 

Just like ordinary people, they heatedly discussed whether to take this little baby in. One of them, a couple named Owens, finally adopted him against the crowd and named him Nobody Owens (Nobody Owens), nicknamed Bod. 

The ghosts also agreed to give the child the right to be a "free man in the cemetery" so that he can go in and out of the cemetery freely and be able to see the ghosts. As for the basic problem of what to eat and what to wear, Silas, a vampire who resides here, takes care of it.

Silas is the coolest character in the book and the godfather of Birds. He said:
"Mrs. Owens and her husband have taken the child under their protection. It will take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will…… take a graveyard." ("Mrs. Owens and Her husband took the child in. But only one or two good-hearted ghosts can't raise the child. It depends on the entire cemetery.")

This sentence is both humorous and reasonable. The author played a word game and changed the proverb "It takes an entire village to raise a child" by one word, and replaced the village with a graveyard. 

This proverb means "raising a child requires the whole village to work together", which is equivalent to "raising children is the responsibility of the whole society."

As a result, Little Bird thrived in the company of the ghosts of the cemetery.

The structure of the story is neat and tidy. Each chapter is a relatively independent chapter, which tells about an important event that happened to Little Bird at each stage of growth. Each event is about two years apart, paving the way for each other and echoing each other. 

The tone of each chapter is different. Some are bright, such as "New Friend", which tells Bird to make friends with a little human girl; some are mysterious, such as "The Dance of Maicoby", which describes a magical carnival full of magical colors. Some are magnificent and magnificent, such as "The Dog of God", which is a thrilling adventure that Bird experienced during the rebellious period. 

In the last chapter, Bird has grown into a calm boy after training. He loses the ability to wander the yin and yang, leaving the cemetery and stepping into the vast world, which is extremely melancholy. At this time, you want to pounce on the window of the author's house with a brick in your hand and order him to write a sequel.

The wording of this book is concise, and the length is not long, it is an out-and-out children's book. Throughout the book are Neil Gaiman's wild imagination, gorgeous and funny language, and exciting narrative skills. This is a pure growth story. 

Although it is full of ghouls, werewolves, ancient tombs, bullying, murder, and suspense, its core is the wholehearted love of Byrd’s adoptive parents, Silas’s follow-up teaching, left to right Under the kind care of the tomb, he explores the process of the world's self-understanding.

Since the setting is a cemetery, there are many interesting details. For example, Bird's way of learning the alphabet is to familiarize all the tombstones. He went to an invisible class, and the teacher shook his head at him, saying that he was too "ceramic" to learn from it. Later, he went to a regular school for human beings outside. 

The teachers found that his historical grades were excellent, but they also found that he was very unobtrusive and almost non-existent. It turns out that he is certainly "ceramic" compared to ghosts, but after all, he has learned some invisibility skills. 

I think this kind of technique is something that all introverted nerds are yearning to possess (XD). There are many similar details, making the reading full of surprises. Not much to say here.

As a mother and teacher, when I was reading this story, I especially liked Silas's love and precepts for Bird. He always takes the various questions raised by Bird seriously from the child's perspective and psychology, and patiently gives him appropriate answers. Bird asked: "How can I be like him?" This "he" is another ghost.

Silas replied: "How do you do it? Some skills can be learned, some can be practiced, and some can be learned when you grow up. As long as you work hard, you will soon be "invisible", "sliding" and "sleepwalking". 

But there are some skills that a living person cannot learn. You have to wait a little longer. However, I have no doubt that you will definitely learn it one day."

This encouragement to learn really impressed me. Five-body cast. He gave the child full trust, but he didn't make a bad check. There are specific goals, but also limitless possibilities. 

It's all in the vernacular, and the child can understand it. And the sentence "some abilities living people can't learn, you have to wait a little longer", thinking about it is both humorous and sad.

With such mentors and helpful friends, Little Bird grew up in the cemetery but lived much better than Harry and Yang. "Graveyard Book" is traditional in nature. Its charm comes from the ingenious setting, the author's brilliant writing, and the accumulation of British history and folklore. 

Of course, the warm core is also very moving. Speaking of inheritance, Neal Gaiman made it clear that this book is a tribute to The Jungle Book (The Jungle Book) by the British writer Joseph Rudyard Kipling at the end of the 19th century. Not only is the title similar, but the chapter structure also imitates "The Book of the Jungle" and adopts the form of nursery rhymes and poems. 

Gaiman said he was deeply influenced by The Book of the Jungle. "The Book of the Jungle," tells the story of people and animals in the Indian jungle. Most of the protagonists are children.

So, back to the question at the beginning: where did the children in the literature grow up? Where is the best place to raise a child? The conclusion is that children in literary works can grow up in various places, whether in a cemetery or in a jungle. 

I recommend this book to all parents and children who like fantasy, curiosity, and a little more reading taste. This story is also expected to be made into a movie in the near future.

Discover literary treasures at ReadingAndThinking.com – your ultimate destination for insightful book recommendations and reviews!

Please Share These Resources with Colleagues, Friends, and Family.

Hello, I created this blog that aims to enhance readers' lives and provide some helpful articles and content. Thanks for the reader's presence and invite you to follow me on Linkedin.