Neil Gaiman. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK

Sometimes the Newbery award book perplexes me or makes me wonder why it was chosen. Not this one. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is truly deserving of all the honors it is receiving.
Nobody Owens was named by his parents. Not so unusual. Except Nobody’s parents are ghosts. Nobody, or Bod as his friends call him, wandered into the graveyard as a baby after his family was murdered. The inhabitants of the graveyard had a feeling he was in danger and adopted him. Mr. & Mrs. Owens became his parents, while someone named Silas became his guardian. Bod grows up in the graveyard, learning from ghosts teachers and playing with ghost children. Except for the ghouls, witches, dreamwalking and trickery, Bod has a perfectly normal childhood. But one day Bod learns that the man who killed his family is still after him. He will never truly be free to live his life with that man after him. So, he must make some difficult choices.
This book is filled with adventure, intriguing characters, spookiness and dread. It is the quintessential children’s book that will be adored by all ages. I love the way Gaiman writes. There is something about the way he describes things. Whereas normally I’ll get annoyed at an overly descriptive scene to the point where I begin skipping over stuff, here I relished every phrase, every well-chosen word. For example:

“The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer and sharper than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you had been cut, not immediately.” and…

“The street door was still open, just a little, where the knife and the man who held it had slipped in, and wisps of nighttime mist slithered and twined into the house through the open door.”

I mean, really, don’t you have distinct pictures in your head after reading these excerpts? Don’t you want to read them again? That’s just the beginning. When we’re introduced to the different characters from such wide-ranging time periods, we get to enjoy an array of dialects and quirky people.
I thoroughly enjoyed this Newbery and really want to read more by Gaiman.

But this book trailer does a much better job of creating the mood of the book. Check it out. It has the illustrations from the book (which are stunning, by the way) created by Dave McKean.
Press play & be patient, it takes a moment to start.

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean from booksamillion.com on Vimeo.

More on the book and video of the author reading the book click here.

Sherman Alexie. THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN.

I went into this one not knowing what to expect. I had read the rave reviews. But, I had no idea what the book was about. The title didn’t reveal much either. Turns out, I was pleasantly surprised. This is a refreshing book about a boy learning to make his way in two different worlds. Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, is a Spokane Indian living on a reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. After receiving a textbook in geometry class that belonged to his mother more than 30 years ago, he becomes disgusted with education on the reservation. He makes a bold decision. He is going to attend the high school in the next town in Reardon. It’s an all-white school. So, not only does he have to face the guilt of deserting his reservation, but he must face the scrutiny and racism at the all-white school. But, he knows if he is ever going to make something of himself, he must go to a better school. All this sounds pretty serious, and the book does have some heavy topics. But, it has its fair share of humor as well. When describing the rules of fighting on the reservation, Junior explains his fighting skills:

"Yes, I was a terrible fighter.
I was a human punching bag.
I lost fights to boys, girls, and kids half my age.
One bully, Micah, made me beat up myself. Yes, he made me punch myself in the face three times. I am the only Indian in the history of the world who ever lost a fight with himself."

Yeah, it definitely makes you laugh, but it also makes you sad, happy, and hopeful. As an added bonus, the illustrations scattered throughout the book are downright hilarious!

For more on Alexie, click here: http://www.fallsapart.com/