Bod's parents are murdered, but the curious baby escaped through a window when he heard a sound and walked up the hill to the graveyard. There some of the dead (ghosts and spirits) find him and protect him from the killer. In order to keep him safe, Mr. and Mrs. Owens adopt him and it is decided that he gets the freedom of the graveyard, which allows him to see, hear, and be anywhere there. The baby is named Nobody Owens - Bod for short - and his Silas, the resident vampire becomes his guardian.
“It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will take a graveyard.”
The story is written in the third person and it reads like short stories. In them we meet different characters, and get to follow Bod's adventures and growth from a toddler until he is about 15. The stories don't feel disjointed at all since they have Bod in common. Bod is curious, smart, with an avid hunger for learning and reading. He's eager to experience life, but it's bound to the protection that the Graveyard offers since the killer is still out there and looking for him.
I won't lie, the story is a times creepy, and others sad and the ending made me cry. I loved it though. The writing is engrossing, and at times chilling and moving. I won't lie, it made me cry at the end.... I just wish that we could have seen what happens to Bod after he leaves the Graveyard, what becomes of him,
There's an amazing cast of characters in the story, from Bod's adoptive parents, to characters from different centuries, a witch, ghouls, shape shifters, Silas (a vampire), poets, governors and all sort of other people that help raise and teach the little boy. There's also living characters, like Scarlet and of course, there's bad people.
“You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."
Overall, The Graveyard Book is a memorable story of loss, love, the power in knowing, friendship and possibility. I loved it. This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea