The Graveyard Book tells the story of Nobody Owens, a young boy orphaned in the first chapter of the novel and taken in by the ghosts of the local graveyard.The boy grows up in this atypical world, learning how to be both ghost and human at the same time. Every chapter of the book takes us to a different year of Bod's life, seeing how his unique family is helping him grow. Eventually, this family helps him become a man and confront the man who killed his family.
Although this book is a fantasy novel, it very aptly describes a story of growing up and maturing. We see how Bod changes not only as a person, but in how he relates to other people as well. He learns different skills from the family he has formed around him, such as Ms. Lupescu, the werewolf who teaches him how to be self sufficient. It also gives a story with a family that cares about their adopted son very much. Although almost everyone else in the graveyard is a ghost, they do not love Bod any less, with The Owens being heartbroken when he finally has to leave them.
I think this book would be great for the classroom. Apart from an engaging story, the book has creepy, cool illustrations and inventive creatures that students would spend much time trying to figure out and create. Not only could this be used in some type of self identity/ maturing unit a class would be doing, the fantasy aspect of the novel allows students to use many creative outlets in activities like drawing the Sleer or the Graveyard, making up character back stories, or creating their own ghost who has their own unique powers. This text is not very difficult to understand, the only challenging aspect would be the multiple characters that might trip up readers. I think that both boys and girls would be intrigued by the text and could produce a really excited classroom discussion!
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