The Graveyard Book

Gaiman's Graveyard Book just won the Newberry Award!! Woot! Now in the past, I have had quite a bit of disagreement with them over their choices, find some of the winners just plain losers as far as books go. This one, however, they got right. The Graveyard Book is sweet and sad, it's about life and death and growing up. The few places that did work as well as others were totally made up for by the vast and overwhelming grace of the rest of the book. Told in short stories, instead of chapters, it is the story of Nobody Owens, who toddles his way into the graveyard away from his family's murderer and is taken in by the Owens (a wonderful dead couple) in particular and the entire graveyard in general. What he learns of life and love and the world is a wonderful lesson for us all. It's a five star book and deserves this honor. I'm so pleased!

Read Neil Gaiman's excited response here.