The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Bibliography:

Gaiman, Neil. 2010. The Graveyard Book. Ill. McKean, Dave. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. 9780060530938

Plot Summary:
Nobody “Bod” Owens lives in a graveyard, but he isn’t a ghost – he is a real human boy. After Bod’s entire family was murdered when he was a barely old enough to walk, he wandered into a graveyard where he was saved by and adopted by a ghostly couple named Mr. and Mrs. Owens. As long as Bod stays in the graveyard, he will be protected from the man who killed his family. What will happen if Bod leaves the safety of the graveyard? Join Bod on his journey of self discovery, humor, and revenge!

Critical Analysis:
The characters in this story all have interesting personalities which are unique to each character. Young readers may find Bod's character irresistibly likable and easy to identify with. Bod’s personality changes as he grows up, which is to be expected from any growing child. Bod’s behavior early on in the book makes him out to be a spoiled child who feels sorry for himself. His sulky behavior causes him to be taken by a group of ghouls. Once Bod was rescued by an unsuspecting person, Bod’s behavior begins to grow and change as he realizes the mistakes he has made.

The plot of this story is remarkably attractive and hard to resist. The story begins with a terrifying scene of an entire family, except for one little boy, being murdered. By some strange luck, Bod “accidentally” wanders into a graveyard where he is adopted and loved by the inhabitants of the graveyard. Each chapter displays a portion of Bod’s life and the trials he went through while growing up as the only living soul in the graveyard. In the end, the unraveled plot will shock you, surprise you, and might even make you cry.

The setting is obviously in a graveyard, but it is in located in Old Town which is supposed to be somewhere in England. Neil Gaiman does a fantastic job of describing the graveyard all throughout the book to the point that it almost possible to create a map of the graveyard and the graves of each inhabitant in your mind. One of my favorite little details is whenever Bod walks by or up to a headstone and the text on the stone is shared with the audience. It seems realistic for someone to read a headstone as they walk by and I think this is why Gaiman incorporated this little detail in the story. Here are two examples from the book:

"Digby Poole (1785-1860), As I Am So Shall You Be" (p. 164)

"Majella Godspeed, Spinster of this Parish, 1791-1870, Lost to All But Memory" (p. 221)

Throughout the entire book Bod’s guardian, Silas, is always telling him that he is only safe in the graveyard and it is the only place his friends can protect him. Gaiman’s graveyard is described in such a way that even the reader can feel the safety in the graveyard and the reader won’t be able to help but worry about Bod when he leaves the gate.

Any book written by Neil Gaiman will no doubt have its own style. Bod’s character does things no human would ever be able to do, such as: fade, dreamwalk, or even walk through walls while in the graveyard. As though to keep with the fantasy genre this book fits in Gaiman creates the creepy, made-up place known as Ghûlheim. Ghûlheim is the home of the ghouls:

     “Even from the path below Ghûlheim, even from miles away, Bod could see that all of the angels were  wrong – that the walls sloped crazily, that it was every nightmare he had ever endured made into a place, like a huge mouth of jutting teeth. It was a city that had been built just to be abandoned, in which all the fears and madnesses and revulsions of the creatures who built it were made into stone. The ghoul-folk found it and delighted in it and called it home.”
(p. 82)

Dave McKean's artwork is cleverly placed at the beginning of each chapter and randomly throughout the pages. McKean's drawings do well to depict a being without providing the visible characteristics and traits associated with human beings. The drawn images of the ghosts offer blurred lines and unintelligible facial features in order to keep up with the 'creepy' feeling portrayed throughout the book.
 

This book is recommended for children ages 8 and up.


Review Excerpt(s):

Newbery Medal (2009)

Kirkus Reviews – given a blue star for remarkable merit – (2008) “this needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child.”

School Library Journal (2009) “This captivating production makes the story accessible to younger students as well as reluctant readers.”


Connections:

• Pair this title with other great favorites such as:
       Divergent by Veronica Roth
       The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
       Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
• Have the child(ren) select their favorite part(s) in the story and create pencil drawings to depict their favorite scenes. 
• Give the child(ren) a pencil and a large sheet of paper and ask the child(ren) to try and draw a map of Bod's graveyard. Encouraged the child(ren) to look for details within the book to help them in their efforts.

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág

Bibliography:
Gág, Wanda. 1952. Millions of Cats. by Wanda Gag. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 9780399233159

Plot Summary:
Wanda Gág brings us an interesting story about an old couple that decides one day they would like to have a cat. The old man tells his wife he would go out and get the prettiest cat he can find for her and bring the cat back to their house. During his cat locating journey, the old man comes across millions of different cats and begins to select the cats which are the most beautiful. Regrettably, he ends up convincing himself that all of the cats are beautiful and brings all of the kitties back home to his wife. After reaching his home, his wife is shocked to see millions of cats have followed the old man home and explains they are unable to care for so many cats at once. The old woman decides she will pick the prettiest cat and keep only that cat. Unfortunately, even after of all of those cats they still cannot decide which cat is the prettiest so the old women suggests that the cats should decide who the prettiest cat is; once the cats decide that is the cat the old couple will keep. Unfortunately, all of the cats and kittens thought they were the prettiest and begin fighting one another until none of the cats were left. Shocked, the old couple ran outside to see what if any cats were left and all they found was a small, terrified kitten hiding in the bushes. This little kitten was never attacked by the mob of cats because the kitten never argued over its beauty. The little cat was taken in by the old couple, fattened up and loved dearly.

Critical Analysis:
Wanda Gág’s (‘Gág’ rhymes with ‘blog’) family is of Bohemian descent and this fact becomes obvious in her folk-art like illustrations. Millions of Cats is a black and white illustration picture book that offers quite a wide range of detail, but somehow remains simple enough for a small child to enjoy. While the couple is to be portrayed as elderly, nothing about their movements in the book hints at their apparent senior age group, despite the old man having a rather long beard. Both the old man and woman appear to move with ease, especially the old man on his lengthy journey. Additionally, both the old man and the old woman have kind, gentle faces which are not gnarled in any way. The setting of this story seems to take place in the country with no neighbors around for miles.

Gág uses repetition in her text which will help early readers grasp on to the bigger words they will see in this book. We can see evidence of such repetition in the constant use of “hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats” all throughout the book.

Does this book have a hidden meaning? As I have learned from my professor’s textbook (Children's Literature in Action), it is common for adults to want to find a strong message in the text they are reading to their children, but this is not always the case; sometimes a picture book is just a picture book. With this said, if I had to choose a meaning for this story it would probably have to be: beauty is in the eye of the beholder – or at least an old couple in this case.

This book is idea for children ages 3 and up.

Reading Excerpt(s):

• Newbery Medal (1929)
• One Hundred Books that Shaped the Century (2000) in School Library Journal "this Newbery Honor winner is characterized by innovative design and a strong storyteller's cadence"
• Number 21 on School Library Journal's "Top 100 Picture Books" list

Connections:

• Pair this title with other great favorites such as:
            Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
            The Three Little Kittens by Lorinda Bryan Cauley
            The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen    
• Allow the child(ren) to make their own beautiful cat using brown paper lunch bags and different colored construction paper.
• Blank color sheets of kittens and cats can be printed to allow the child(ren) to decorate the prettiest cat.