I found this fair-condition softcover at the Lucky Dog thrift shop in Nashua, glad to have another release copy. [This edition includes the text of Gaiman's acceptance speech for winning the Newbery award for this book - very funny and touching speech, well worth reading.]

The comments on the dust-jacket compare this to Kipling's Jungle Book, with a dark twist; turns out the comparison is quite apt, and in some cases is a direct re-telling of Kipling's tales, with Bod as Mowgli, Silas as Bagheera, and many other obvious similarities. I was delighted! (The chapter "The Witch's Headstone" compares very well with Kipling's "The King's Ankus"; I'll leave other comparisons for the reader to discover.)

The story itself is a good deal darker, what with the main enemies being malevolent humans rather than a tiger that simply needs to eat. In fact, the story opens with "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife," telling you right away that this is a sinister story. (While avoiding explicit details, the book makes the fates of Bod's family quite clear. {shudder})

Once toddler Bod makes his way to the graveyard and into the protection of ghost-couple Mr. and Mrs. Owens, not to mention the impassive yet commanding Silas, his life takes on a certain whimsy - colored grey with graveyard dust, but rather fun for a child. He grows, and learns such talents as are useful for ghosts, like Fading, as well as those useful for mortals - in a charming scene, he learns his alphabet from gravestones. And he learns why some parts of the graveyard are more dangerous than others, sometimes the hard way...

The chapter "Hounds of God" features Bod discovering one of the more risky parts of the graveyard and very nearly getting in over his head; he's aided by another of the fascinating characters, and the plot is an homage to Kipling's "Kaa's Hunting" with a delightful nod to Lovecraft as well.

All of his adventures pale in contrast to the danger he runs when the man who killed his family gets wind of his location. The story gathers momentum and suspense as we find out where that man came from and what his organization is like - and as we fret over how Bod can possibly escape him. Lots of great scenes there, some of them heartwrenching, with a satisfying, yet bittersweet conclusion.

[There's a TV Tropes page on the novel, with some interesting tidbits. And I see there's a film adaptation under development, though no word of a definite release date.]

I left this book in the new Little Free Library on Osgood Rd. across from Milford Middle School, at around 12:45; hope the finder enjoys it!

I'm the steward of Little Free Library 44901 and I've always wanted to read this book! before it goes on it's way to my neighbors, I'm curling up with it this afternoon. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors. Have you read Ocean at the End of the Lane? Or his shorter piece, The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains? Both great.

Thank you for the addition. I'll put it back in the LFL and write more of a review once I'm done.