The Graveyard Book

Gaiman, N. (2008). The Graveyard Book. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

A family is murdered. That is how this story begins. The lone survivor, a baby, crawls to a graveyard. He is protected from the killer by the inhabitants and eventually adopted by them. He is granted free reign of the graveyard . This books has ghosts, werewolves, vampires, witches, and goblins. The young boy, Bod, short for Nobody, has various encounters with all of these as he learns to navigate in the world of the dead. He eventually convinces his caretaker Silas to let him attend venture out of the cemetery and attend school.But that doesn't end well. He uses his powers he has learned to defeat some school bullies but this brings unwanted attention.

Some time later, an old friend Scarlet returns. She was a childhood friend of Bod whose parents moved to Scotland for her father's teaching job. She has met a historian who now lives in the house that Bod's family was killed. Being that the man Mr. Frost is now a friend of the family, Scarlet asks him to do some research on the murders for her friend Bod. She invites Bod over to the house to meet Mr.Frost. Turns out it is Jack Frost the man who has been trying to kill the boy. There is a prophecy that Bod will destroy the the society that Jack belongs to, Jack of all Trades. 

Scarlet and Bod escape to the graveyard when Jack reveals his true intentions. The members of the Jack society chase them. Once in the graveyard, three of the Jack fall to their death. Bod somehow manages to trick Jack Frost into declaring himself the Sleer's master and the Sleer wraps him up and takes him goodness know where. Silas comes and erases Scarlet's memory of all the traumatic events.He then convinces Scarlet's mother to return to Scotland.

When the book ends, a 15 year old Bod is growing out of the ability to travel around the graveyard and do what he used to like seeing ghosts. Silas gives him some money and a passport and Bod leaves his old life behind.  

I did not enjoy this book. I am not a fan of vampires, witches,horror and ghost stories. This novel had all that. It was a hard read because the action was very slow in the beginning. The Old English language was hard to understand as well. I don't understand how a book dealing with someone trying to murder someone is thought of as children's literature.