The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
Nobody Owens lives in a graveyard. His parents are a childless couple who have been dead for over three hundred years. The members of his biologigical family were victums of a violent murder when Nobody was but a toddler. Since the murderer has never stopped searching for him, it is only in the graveyard that he is protected. His unorthodox education includes fading and dreamwalking. He learns his letters off of tombstones. What he knows of history he has learned from the ghosts of people who lived it. His is altogether a unique childhood.
Recent Newbery winners have had more adult appeal than kid appeal. I predict that The Graveyard Book will be an exception. Nobody Owens is a fascinating character. Suspense steadily builds, as events lead to the inevitable confrontation between Nobody and the man responsible for the deaths of his family. I was thoroughly hooked and hope that there will be further adventures of Nobody Owens.
