Shelly's Book Blog

This year's Newbery Medal winner, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, both surprised and delighted me. The first chapter has stirred some controversy, not for its language (as in Susan Patron's The Higher Power of Lucky in 2007) but because it describes the cold-blooded murder of a mother, father, and child, with another very young child left to fend for himself. Librarians disagree about whether this first (shocking?) scene warrants placing the book in the YA section, rather than on the children's shelf. I don't believe parents and librarians should fret about children being harmed by the violence here and here's why: Gaiman refers to the murderer's deeds in the past tense, suggesting what has happened without providing any detail. He then quickly moves on to describing Bod's character and the actions he took that night that caused him to take up residence in a graveyard. Bod himself is not afraid, and he is quickly protected, provided with loving, substitute parents and a safe home. It's really Harry Potter-esque (Harry, too, lost his parents and almost his own life to an evil assassin), so I suppose people who object to the Harry Potter books might also object to The Graveyard Book. In my opinion, though, fear of complaints is not a good enough reason to restrict access to this wonderful book. Children of all ages are in the process of defining who they are, just like Nobody Owens, and they, too, face the fearful prospect of making their own way in a world that is often frightening. Gaiman writes about these issues in a compelling and humorous story. What could be better than that?