3 minute read
Knowledge Organiser: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Summary
Novel: The Graveyard Book Author: Neil Gaiman Pages: 288 Audio length: 7 hours 43 minutes Genre: Mystery, gothic, fantasy Vocabulary Supernatural: an event or person that cannot be explained by the laws of science or the natural world Prophesy: saying something that will happen in the future Assassin: a person who is hired to murder someone Perpetuity: something that lasts forever Crypt: an underground room used as a burial place Mausoleum: an impressive building housing a group of tombs Main characters Bod (Nobody Owens): a human child raised by ghosts in a graveyard. Given the Freedom of the Graveyard so he can live like a ghost. Scarlett Amber Perkins: Bod’s best childhood friend. Scarlett moves away for ten years but returns and is tricked by the man Jack, who has assumed the persona of affable local historian Mr Frost. The man Jack (or Jack Frost): an evil assassin sent by the Jacks of All Trades to murder Bod and his family to prevent a prophesy from coming true. Silas: Bod’s guardian. Well respected in the supernatural world. Possibly a vampire. Takes good care of Bod. Mr and Mrs Owens: Bod’s ghost parents who live in the graveyard. They love Bod like the child they never had. Bod’s family: murdered by the man Jack when Bod is a small baby. Liza Hempstock: Bod’s friend. Buried in the graveyard accused of being a witch. Bod buys her a headstone to mark her grave. The Sleer: a supernatural snake-like being looking for a new master. Protects his treasure in the barrow grave. The Ghouls: a group of ghouls who kidnap Bod and try take him to Ghûlheim (hell). Miss Lupescu: a Hound of God or a werewolf. Guardian to Bod when Silas is away. Rescues Bod from Ghûlheim. Dies protecting Bod. The Lady on the Grey: mythical woman on a big white horse. Comes to take people away when they die. ©The Educational Company of Ireland
Setting
An English graveyard in an unnamed town. The supernatural world of the text includes the existence of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, ghouls and secret conclaves of assassins alongside a normal everyday setting.
Plot summary
The man Jack murders a family but the baby escapes to the nearby graveyard. The supernatural beings in the graveyard grant the baby the Freedom of the Graveyard and Mr and Mrs Owens raise Bod as their son. Silas takes on the role of his guardian. Bod makes friends with a human – Scarlett Amber Perkins. Together they defeat the Sleer in the barrow grave. Scarlett then moves to Scotland with her parents. Bod enters hell through a ghoul gate and is rescued by Mrs Lupescu. Bod makes friends with Liza Hempstock, an accused witch, and buys her a headstone. One night, the dead in the graveyard and the living dance the Macabray together. Silas allows Bod go to school with disastrous consequences. Bod ends up in trouble with the police for standing up to the bullies Nick and Mo. He is rescued by Liza and Silas and leaves school. Scarlett returns from Scotland and befriends Mr Frost who turns out to be the man Jack. The inhabitants of the graveyard and Bod work together to defeat the man Jack and his group of assassins. Bod’s powers begin to disappear and he leaves the graveyard to travel the world. Narrative perspective Third-person omniscient narrator A linear or chronological plot Symbolism Freedom of the Graveyard: the privileges Bod is granted that allows him to see ghosts, slip through walls and grow up safely under the protection of his graveyard family. The Macabray: a dance between the living and the dead that occurs spontaneously when a certain flower blooms in the graveyard. ©The Educational Company of Ireland
