Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book on Video

See Neil himself reading his story: The Graveyard Book

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK - by Neil Gaiman

I loved it. But I always love scary, creepy and mysterious books-and always have.

Some of my favorite lines: "Teeth so strong they can crush any bones, and tongue sharp and long enough to lick the marrow from the deepest marrowbone or flay the flesh from a fat man's face."

Sounds bad--doesn't it? But that is probably the harshest writing in the book, at least in my mind. It wasn't really a "bloody" book. Now I wouldn't let a 4-8 year old read the book, but I think others might think it's okay. But of course, only parents will know for sure what's right for their kids and what's not appropriate.

Another favorite part was:

"And there are always people who find their lives have become so unsupportable they believe the best thing they could do would be to hasten their transition to another plane of existence.

"They kill themselves, you mean?" said Bod. He was about eight years old, wide-eyed and inquisitive, and he was not stupid.

"Indeed."

"Does it work? Are they happier dead?"

"Sometimes. Mostly, no. It's like the people who believe they'll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn't work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. If you see what I mean.""

I loved those lines. There's a deep message there. And, to me I came away thinking there's power in positive thinking.

Another thing that hit me: my husband was reading the story aloud to me, 'cause I wasn't feeling well - home sick with a cold.

And, some of the words were difficult for him. He didn't know what a brooch was. I giggled when he said it like, "pooch" "brew-ch"

I explained the pronunciation to him and he said, "then why do you say "pooch" when you're talking about a puppy?

It was fun having him read to me - like I was a little kid again. And, he loved the story too.

Okay, so we're a couple of grown up kids - and nerds to boot.

;) Anyway, in my opinion, a very good read and worthy of the Newberry award!