Picturing the graveyard

This is how I imagine the graveyard.

A letter to Neil Gaiman

Dear Mr Gaiman,

now I am at the passage of your „Graveyard Book“ where the reader finds out that Mr Frost is Jack. And I have to say that it is brilliantly written! When I read it I was very surprised! And when I thought about it for a while I noticed some hints in the text: for example that “Jay” is short for “Jack” or that he lives in the same house where Bod’s family was killed or when Mr Frost told Scarlett that her mother would not need to know about this. Also I thought all the time that Bod has to search for a man with black hair but I didn’t realise that black hair could turn to grey.

I think it was smart to let Scarlett return because when she trusts Mr Frost I did so, too, because I didn’t take into account that she could be wrong.

But I still wonder why you chose the name “Jack Frost” for the villain. I think it is also a children’s tale about a small boy being raised by wood elves.

I really enjoy reading your book!

Yours sincerely

Brezel2 (:

(193 words)

How I think the story will continue

After I finished the sixth chapter of „The Graveyard Book” I guessed what will happen in the last two chapters. But first let me outline the story so far:

When Bod was 18 months old a man called Jack killed his family, but Bod managed to escape to a graveyard where he was adopted by the dead couple Owens. Now he is eleven years old and his guardian Silas tells him that Jack still wants to kill him.

Now there are only two chapters left. So I expect the author will write more about Jack and why it is so important for him to kill Bod. When Bod got to know about the murderer of his real family he told Silas that Jack should be frightened of him and not the other way round. Therefore I think that Bod will leave the graveyard to search for Jack to take revenge.

Also the author probably will write more about Silas and explain if Silas is a vampire, as I guess, and why the ghosts call him “an actual member of the Honour Guard”.

I am sorry to say that I don’t expect the author to finish the song I mentioned in my first blog.

(203 words)

Contrast and contradiction

In the fifth chapter the dead and the living meet and dance together. In my opinion the author is bringing up a main contrast: When you read the book you automatically think that Bod belongs to the ghosts of the graveyard because he is living with them and calls Mr and Mrs Owens his parents, although they are dead. But after this scene you realise that Bod is a living boy who should be able to live like other kids of his age (now he is ten years old). For example at the beginning of the chapter his guardian Silas gives proper clothes to Bod who until then had been wearing only a cloth.

After I finished the chapter I noticed a contradiction: The author said that the living cannot remember the dance with the dead, but then why can Bod remember it? The writer does not give a solution for this, but I think it is because Bod has the “freedom of the graveyard” which means that he is able to see the dead and, for example, can see in the dark and is able to go through the walls of the graves.

(194 words)

Nobody meets a witch

In the fourth chapter a new character is introduced: the witch Liza (short for Elizabeth) Hempstock. She was drowned and burned and finally buried without a tombstone in unconsecrated ground in Nobody’s graveyard 500 years ago.

At first she is described as a dangerous witch because Silas, Nobody’s guardian, warns Bod not to go to the unconsecrated ground. But after Nobody falls off an apple tree and hurts his leg the witch comes to look after him because she is curious and wants to help.

Later in the chapter she helps Nobody again when she saves him from two thugs. She does this because Bod left the graveyard to buy her a tombstone, so I think she is thankful.

Still, Liza is also revengeful because she cursed her murderers and all the people who watched her burn and let them die of the plague. But in the book the author doesn’t really say that this happened because of her curse.

She is described as a girl with an intelligent but not even a little bit beautiful face. She has mousy, long hair and she reminds Bod of a goblin. But when she smiles she looks really pretty.

I like Liza. She is an interesting character because you don’t know yet if she is good or evil. Also I want to know what magic powers she has and if they are useful later in the book.

(234 words)

Difficult words in the third chapter

While reading the third chapter I came across a long and complicated paragraph with many words I do not know. This is the passage:

“One grave in every graveyard belongs to the ghouls. Wander any graveyard long enough and you will find it – water-stained and bulging, with cracked or broken stone, scraggly grass or rank weeds about it, and a feeling, when you reach it, of abandonment. It may be colder than the other gravestones, too, and the name on the stone is all too often impossible to read. If there is a statue on the grave, it will be headless or so scabbed with fungus and lichens as to look like a fungus itself. If one grave in a graveyard looks like a target for petty vandals, that is the ghoul-gate. If the grave makes you want to be somewhere else, that is the ghoul-gate.”

“Wander any graveyard” – I think it means something like “walking over the graveyard”.

“Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary” gives as definition “to move or travel about without destination or purpose”.

“water-stained and bulging” – “Water-stained” could mean that when rain flows over the tombstone it leaves grooves, but I have no idea what “bulging” might mean.

In “Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary” you can’t find “water-stained”, but “stained” describes “a discolouration from foreign matter”. “Bulging” means “to swell out”.

“petty vandals” – Maybe “vandals” are persons who break things even though they aren’t allowed to. I cannot deduce the meaning of “petty” but in this context it could mean something like “illegal” or “not allowed”.

“Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary” defines “petty” as “having little worth, importance, position or rank” and “vandal” as a “ruthless plunderer”.

“scabbed” – I think it could mean to be overgrown by plants.

According to “Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary” it is ”to form or become covered with a scab”, “scab” meaning “a crust formed on the surface of a wound or sore”.

I also didn't know the words "weeds", "fungus" and "lichen". Here are some pictures that are better than an explanation:
"weeds":
 http://c0006023.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/debate/wp-content/weeds.jpg
"fungus":
http://www.fwallpapers.net/pics/nature/fungus/fungus_15.jpg

"lichen": 
http://schmidling.com/lichen2.jpg

(339 words)

Nobody looses Scarlett

When I read the second chapter of “The Graveyard Book” I found passages that relate to my own life (which in my opinion is quite amazing because the book takes place on a graveyard!). But first let me explain what the chapter is about:

The main character Nobody (Bod for short) is five years old now and is learning to write by copying the words on the tombstones, when a girl his age called Scarlett asks him what he is doing. They become friends and spend some time together every day. But at the end of the chapter Bod gets to know that Scarlett is going to move to Scotland and they have to say goodbye.

I know how it feels to loose friends because when I was the same age as Bod I moved to another city with my family. I had to leave all of my kindergarten friends behind. I was very sad about this: I dictated my mother letters to my friends and put pictures of them on my window sill. But the boy in the book isn’t able to write any letters and he also hasn’t got any memorabilia. Furthermore after some days at the new kindergarten I had found new friends, but Bod probably will not find any new friends because a graveyard is not a place where you usually meet other kids.

So it has to be much worse for Nobody to loose Scarlett than it was for myself and I feel sorry for him.

(251 words)

The exciting first chapter

When I wanted to start reading the novel „The Graveyard Book“ by Neil Gaiman (look here for some informations about the author: http://www.neilgaiman.com/), the inspiring book cover illustrated by Chris Riddell caught my eye (have a look at it yourself at http://www.vampires.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/graveyard-book.jpg). At first glance it looks a bit scary, maybe, and not suitable for kids. But after I read the first chapter I noticed that the cover depicts the important characters and the graveyard where the story takes place in a true to original way. So it was easier for me to imagine the scene.

In my opinion the first chapter is very well written because it provides an excellent insight into what the story is about. It made me curious to know how the characters, especially the main character “Nobody”, an 18 months old boy, will develop.

On the first page of the novel a man called Jack tries to kill Nobody after murdering the boy’s family. But why? In the first chapter the reason is not given. It only says: “One more and his (Jack’s) task would be done” (page 4, top). So I am curious to know why Jack wants to kill Nobody and who Jack is!

The book is also funny. In one passage a ghost called Mrs Owens is singing a song to Nobody but she can’t remember the end of the song:

“Sleep my little babby-oh

Sleep until you waken

When you’re grown you’ll see the world

If I’m not mistaken.

Kiss a lover,

Dance a measure,

Find your name

and buried treasure …

(…) She had a feeling that the final line was something in the way of ‘and some hairy bacon’, (…) (page 20)

I hope that in the course of the book I will find out what this final line really is!
(302 words)