Loved it! This is my first book by Gaiman. What a storyteller! He had me from the first word. I love the feeling I get when a book claims me with the first sentence. Doesn't happen often enough, although if it did, I suppose it would stop thrilling me so.
It did worry me, for the sake of very young readers, that a very young child's family had just been brutally murdered in the first couple of pages. But that worry was quickly replaced with the unique magic unfolding in the cemetery. I was so touched by the strength of the baby's mother in getting to him despite the odds.
The rest of the book was so enchanting that I could not put it down. The story itself was both charming and exciting, but it was little nuggets like this that really kept me reading:
It was the size of a robin's egg and Bod stared into the stone wondering if there were things moving in its heart, his eyes and soul deep in the crimson world. If Bod had been smaller he would have wanted to put it in his mouth.
Bod was caught in the most paradoxical world, the world of the dead yet he was alive. A very small boy in a modern world being raised by beings centuries old. The last sentence of that excerpt, to me, was one of the most poignant. So grown up already at only 8 yet still so childlike with lingering desires to feel out the world like a child much younger.
Not once, after the tragedy at the house, did I question recommending my 9 and 10 year olds to read The Graveyard Book. They will love it as much as I did.
I agree that after the first chapter everything is tame enough for a 10 year old but that opening of the book was scary. I'm pretty sure my 10 year old isn't quite ready for it but I'm sure there are many who are. I'm glad you enjoyed this book so much. Great review.
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