The Graveyard Book

While at the library the other day I came across a book by one of my favorite living authors, Neil Gaiman, which I had not seen before, entitled The Graveyard Book. Published last fall, it won the 2009 Newbery Medal and the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novel (!).

It is categorized as a book for children of grades 5-8, but since I like Gaiman so much, and the synopsis looked intriguing, I checked it out. I haven’t started it quite yet (I’m currently reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), but from what I could glean from the cover it’s a re-telling of The Jungle Book by Kipling, the twist being that this young orphan has been raised by ghosts in a graveyard rather than by wolves in the jungle. Having recently read (or tried to read) East of Eden, of which I was not a huge fan, but which is a modern re-telling of the story told in Genesis, it got me to thinking as to what the specific merits and implications of such re-tellings are, aesthetically and philosophically. Once I finish the book I will let you know my thoughts. I’m expected great things from an already highly-acclaimed book by one of my favorite storytellers.