The Graveyard Book: Nobody in the Graveyard

BOOK NAME: The Graveyard Book
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman

Welcome to today’s book club meeting!

We just finished reading the first two chapters of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. It’s the story of Nobody (or Bod for short), a boy growing up with ghosts.

If you have read the first two chapters, click “See More” to get to the discussion.

If you haven’t read that far yet, or if you’re still looking for a copy, stop here!

The story’s main character is just a baby when the man Jack visits his house and makes him an orphan. The toddler is lucky enough to wander to the local graveyard, where he is adopted by the Owens, a pair of ghosts! He is given the name Nobody, and gains a guardian named Silas who is not a ghost–he will bring food for Nobody, as well as other things that human children need.

As Nobody (or Bod for short) grows, Silas takes charge of his education. When he is about five years old, he meets another kid for the first time–a girl named Scarlett, who talks to Bod about her life outside the graveyard. While they explore the graveyard together, looking for the oldest grave, they run into a ghost called the Indigo Man as well as something (or somethings) called the Sleer. When they come back from their adventure, Scarlett’s parents are waiting with the police, because they thought Scarlett had gotten lost.

What do you think of the pictures in the book? Do they add anything to the story?

It could be cool to live in a graveyard, but it could also be lonely to grow up without other kids. Why do you think having other kids to talk to might be important?

Scarlett is going to Scotland with her family. Do you think Bod will ever see her again?

Here
are some
words you might not have seen before. (All definitions
from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.)

Barrow: A large mound of earth or stones over the remains of the dead.

Celt: A member of a division of the early Indo-European peoples distributed from the British Isles and Spain to Asia Minor.

Obdurate: Resistant to persuasion or softening influences.

Whew! What a spooky start! This week we’ll read the next three chapters, bringing us to the end of chapter five: “Danse Macabre.” See you next week!

-DogEared