Neil Gaiman hits Kipling's "The Jungle Book"

As various books of other authors exists "The Graveyard Book" in an edition for adults and in an edition for children. The contrast to these works is that Neil Gaiman's novel not only has different covers, but that the numerous illustrations in the book were adapted to the particular group of readers. The drawings in the children's edition come from the British cartoonist and book illustrator Chris Riddell. How already recognizes from the cover, the drawings are rather bright and friendly. The illustrations in the edition for adults as submitted by Dave McKean and are much darker.

Both editions have the same contents: It tells how the little Nobody "Bod" Owens arrives after the murder of his family to a cemetery. As he is brought up by the ghost couple Owens and his mentor, the vampire Silas and what adventures he experienced. He learns, for example, the age of five know the same age Scarlett Perkins, with whom he became friends. Or he meets ghouls who abduct him and want to make it second to none. But the most dangerous encounter is Bod before the end of the book ...

The title "The Graveyard Book" is a tribute to Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book". The story is reminiscent of the entrance Mowgli, the waif, which grows up without contact with people in a foreign environment. But Neil Gaiman's novel is by no means an "imitation" of Kipling's work. "The Graveyard Book" is a separate story with its own plot and individual ideas.
Overall, it is a successful novel for both older and younger readers.