Listened to the full-cast audio book, which really added a lot to the experience. Great production!

I was in more of a low-energy mood and I didn’t feel like investing a lot in a book, so this week so I decided to put on something simple for younger readers. The Graveyard Book was a perfect fit.

I think a book like The Graveyard Book fits Gaiman’s style perfectly: I feel like he is the master of bringing children’s logic into a fantasy story, and The Graveyard Book might be the best example of it he’s every written.

The premise of this book – a child that grows up with the dead in a graveyard – is something that could require a lot of explaining to make work – but in Gaiman’s matter-of-fact style, all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place exactly because hardly any of it is ever explained. It works and feels logical like it would have if you were a kid, and to just go with that flow is a wonderful experience.

The Graveyard Book is very imaginative and whimsical, and at the same time it is mysterious and atmospheric. It has magic that relies on puns and reinterpretations of common phrases, it features children shouting down ancient ghosts – but the main character Nobody is also hunted by a mysterious gentleman looking to murder him.

Sometimes, those two sides of the story clash a little; going from one chapter to the next, The Graveyard Book might change from a wholesome tale on the interaction of the long dead and the living to a literal knife murderer chasing a child.

But in my experience the book was nicely balanced: with even parts of the sweet and the creepy, The Graveyard Book never became boring. It was just somewhat unpredictable in its mood. If those tone switches don’t sound like a bad thing, I think The Graveyard Book is a perfect read for a daring kid or a parent looking to read something to them that might also give them goose bumps.

And for readers like me, something like The Graveyard Book can be a great way to immerse yourself in a simple, well-told story without learning curve.