The Graveyard Book is a book that’s completely deserved to win the Newberry Prize. This book is about a boy named Nobody, and by following his journey through life, it touches on both good and evil and the borderline between life and death. This book is also filled with irony in how someone has been intending to kill Nobody, but at the same time, Nobody’s becoming closer to the graveyard (death) and treating it like a home when it’s where the dead go.

My favorite quotes from this book were, ‘”I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint in the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want”, he said and then he paused and thought, “I want everything”’ and in addition to that, I loved, “People want to forget the impossible. It makes the world safer.” and “But between now and then, there was life and Nobody walked into it with his eyes and heart wide open.” These quotes are so sweet and easily my favorite in the text.

This writing was, again, one of the best I’ve ever seen and I’m not surprised that it got several awards. The combination of irony and seriousness is exquisite and the whole story was well-structured and eloquent.

There were many themes hidden and touched up in this masterpiece. The main theme I’ve thought of is how the dead are so peaceful and calm while the living is bitter, yet, every living person doesn’t want to die. This book represents the meaning of why the living doesn’t want to die.

Additionally, there were many symbolic aspects in this story. For example, the white flower in the book symbolizes that death can come at any time. The graveyard is symbolic of Nobody’s “chosen” family. It also includes the common thoughts that life and death have. In The Graveyard Book, the winter blossoms are given to each living person in the city, which also symbolizes life and death.

If you read the book, here are a few more questions to keep in mind:

1) What do you think the living and the dead have in common?

2) Why do we have a longing for something?

I strongly advise you to read this book because it is truly one of the best books I have ever read.