History Literature / TheGraveyardBook

Gaiman won a slew of awards for the book, including the UsefulNotes/HugoAward and both the UsefulNotes/NewberyMedal and the UsefulNotes/CarnegieMedal (it is the first book ever to win the Newbery and Carnegie).

** When Silas explains to Bod about how the Potter's Field is un-consecrated ground and is where criminals, suicides and witches were laid to rest, Bod asks if the people buried there are bad. Silas doesn't remember anyone there being ''particularly'' evil, and reminds the boy that punishments in the past were very harsh and one could be hanged for as little as stealing a shilling. He also muses on those who've committed suicide, who are pitied and mourned today but harshly condemned in past centuries. Later on we learn that Liza Hempstock was essentially murdered after she was accused of being a witch (the fact that she ''was'' a witch is entirely beside the point).

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: When Silas explains to Bod about how the Potter's Field is un-consecrated ground and is where criminals, suicides and witches were laid to rest, Bod asks if the people buried there are bad. Silas doesn't remember anyone there being ''particularly'' evil, and reminds the boy that punishments in the past were very harsh and one could be hanged for as little as stealing a shilling. He also muses on those who've committed suicide, who are pitied and mourned today but harshly condemned in past centuries. Later on we learn that Liza Hempstock was essentially murdered after she was accused of being a witch (the fact that she ''was'' a witch is entirely beside the point).

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: When Silas explains to Bod about how the Potter's Field is un-consecrated ground and is where criminals, suicides and witches were laid to rest, Bod asks if the people buried there are bad. Silas doesn't remember anyone there being ''particularly'' evil, and reminds the boy that punishments in the past were very harsh and one could be hanged for as little as stealing a shilling. He also muses on those who've committed suicide, who are pitied and mourned today but harshly condemned in past centuries. Later on we learn that Liza Hempstock was essentially murdered after she was accused of being a witch (that she ''was'' a witch is entirely beside the point).

* AffectionateNickname: Mrs. Lupescu starts calling Bod "Nimini".

* BittersweetEnding:[[spoiler: Bod defeats the Man Jack and grows old enough to leave the graveyard, to explore the world to his liking. However, he no longer has a proper home and his childhood friend Scarlett has forgotten about him. Also, Mrs. Lupescu pulled a HeroicSacrifice to save him.]] Neil has at least confirmed that he may write more adventures about Bod.

* CrazyPrepared: Mrs Lupescu makes Bod learn (among other things) how to shout for help in every language of the world and some from beyond (for example, in Night Gaunt). Naturally, [[ChekhovsSkill this comes in handy.]]

* TheGrimReaper: The Lady on the Grey is the Gaimanian form of Death (though she's probably not [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 that]] form of Death).
%%%* HeelFaceTurn: Silas apparently did one when he was younger.

* InNameOnly: The ghouls who bear the names of famous public figures aren't really them. Ghouls are named after their first meal, and prefer to pick noteworthy dinners. This doesn't mean they killed the figures, as they could have just eaten their dead corpses.

* AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler:The Jacks of All Trades]] are a good example of this. And possibly [[spoiler:the Honour Guard]]. The latter "protects the borders of things", but the motives of the former, if there are any besides "continue existing", are unknown.

* AffectionateNickname: Mrs. Lupescu starts calling Bod "Nimini."

* ChekhovsSkill: Bod's ability to "fade," or turn invisible. [[spoiler: When Jack Frost corners him in the house, this ability buys him enough time to escape with Scarlet to the graveyard]].

* TheDeadCanDance: They dance the Danse Macabre. (And never, ever talk about it, before or afterwards.)

* InherentlyFunnyWords: Try to read this sentence in a sepulchral, blood-curdling voice: "Silas... consumed only one food, and it was not bananas." The last word totally undoes the chilling effect, and Neil Gaiman knows it.

[[/folder]]

* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: Bod has a run-in with some in "The Hounds of God." Among other disturbing quirks, they take their names after the main course of their first meal, including "The Famous Writer Creator/VictorHugo" and "The [[UsefulNotes/HarryTruman 33rd]] [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent President of the United States]]." There is a ghoul-gate in every graveyard. Don't go near it.

** Liza becomes this when Bod turns fourteen; the dead are NotAllowedToGrowUp and Bod is getting older. This is her way of acting out when her friend is growing old enough for "interest," but slipping out of her world at the same time.

-->“Us in the graveyard, we wants you to stay alive. We wants you to surprise us and disappoint us and impress us and amaze us.”

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler: Bod was given the Freedom of the Graveyard so he could be safe from the Jacks of All Trades. But after they're defeated, Bod doesn't need it anymore, and that mean he can't even ''see'' his friends and adopted family.]]

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: If [[spoiler:the Jacks of All Trades hadn't tried killing Bod's family, he'd never have had the means or even a reason to fight them. The Honour Guard only discovered that they existed when they tried killing a family that lived near a graveyard with one of its members in it.]]

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: In the Graveyard Book, Bod is being pursued by the [[spoiler: Jacks of All Trades]] because [[spoiler: one of their people predicted around four thousand years ago that a child would be born who would destroy their organization.]]

''The Graveyard Book'' is a 2008 young adult novel written by Creator/NeilGaiman and illustrated by Creator/DaveMcKean in the US edition and [[Literature/TheEdgeChronicles Chris Riddell]] in the UK that can best be summarized as ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', [[RecycledInSpace but]] {{goth}}ic.

* DontFearTheReaper: The Lady on the Grey. She actually tells the dead to take care of Bod.
** This is [[Characters/TheSandman Gaiman's Death]], after all

* TheGrimReaper: The Lady on the Grey is the Gaimanian form of Death (though she's probably not [[ComicBook/TheSandman that]] form of Death).

* WeAllDieSomeday: Rather a recurring theme, which Bod takes as a simple fact, what with being raised by ghosts and all. Bod is entirely at terms with his mortality and is rather looking forward to [[DontFearTheReaper riding the white horse of the Lady on the Grey]]. However, he learns that it is very important for him to have lived before that.

%%%* KingInTheMountain

%%%* StrayingBaby: How Bod escapes the attack on his family.

* InNameOnly: The ghouls who bear the names of famous public figures aren't really them; as they later reveal that ghouls' names are given to them after they become ghouls.
** To clarify, they are named after their first meal, and prefer to pick noteworthy dinners. This doesn't mean they killed the figures, as they could have just eaten their dead corpses. Which is pretty disturbing.

%%%%* UltimateEvil: "We are the Sleer..."

A movie is, as of 2012, in pre-production over at Creator/{{Disney}}. Creator/HenrySelick was originally attached, but they gave him the boot and Creator/RonHoward has been suggested.

When a young boy's family is killed, he takes refuge in a graveyard. The dead there take him in, and dub him Nobody Owens (although his friends call him Bod). There, taken care of by a vampire, a werewolf and his adoptive (but dead) parents, Bod learns from the dead all the things he needs to know about life. But the world outside of the graveyard where he is sheltered is not a safe place. The people who killed his family are still out there, and they are searching for him. Badass ensues.

Think of a {{goth}}ic [[Literature/TheJungleBook Jungle Book]]. Written by Creator/NeilGaiman and published in 2008. Illustrated by Creator/DaveMcKean in the US edition and [[Literature/TheEdgeChronicles Chris Riddell]] in the UK.

Creator/NeilGaiman has won a swag of awards, including the UsefulNotes/HugoAward and both the UsefulNotes/NewberyMedal and the UsefulNotes/CarnegieMedal (it is the first book ever to win the Newbery and Carnegie).

''There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.''

* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: The character named [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier The 33rd President of the United States]] is definitely not UsefulNotes/HarryTruman.

** Liza becomes this when Bod turns fourteen; the dead are NotAllowedToGrowUp and Bod is getting older.

* DeathByNewberryMedal: It won the Newberry for a reason. The novel starts with Bod's family getting killed, even his older sister who hasn't even reached puberty. Bod toddles to the graveyard, where the ghosts and Silas protect him from the Man Jack. Mrs. Owens sees the specter of Bod's mother begging for someone to look after her baby; she agrees to do it. Death, aka the Gray Lady, appears to convince the graveyard ghosts to take in Bod and protect him; Silas also vouches for him.