this is a letter that i wrote to Neil Gaiman when i read "the graveyard book"i hope one day he reads this and takes it into consideration when he writes his next novel. enjoy.


Dear Neil Gaiman,
I absolutely adored your newest book “The graveyard book”. It was well written and kept my interest the whole way through. There were just some points in the book that I would enjoy discussing with you.
In the middle of the book when he gets locked in the basement area, when he tries to sell the stolen broach, and when he goes to school and gets in trouble with some of the students there. He always seems to find some way out of trouble. He just never seems to get caught. And when he does he seems to find some way out of it. I understand that he is extraordinarily smart and quick on his feet. But I find that it would be almost impossible to get away from all those kids, even if he did erase their memories. Wouldn’t there be some random person on the street who saw him but did not make a big deal about it so they continued to walk by unnoticed. I am probably over thinking this way too much.
I thought that you could have described the setting a bit more. In the grave yard, at first you make it seem, (to me) that it was just a small little church grave yard with about less than fifty graves. But then you start talking about how Bod is not allowed to go near certain parts. Then there is that huge under the hill grave site that I thought was an excellent addition. I just got the impression that it seemed to be larger than it was in the beginning.
I thought, while I was reading it, that it should have had some more detail about the “Jack” religion. It only describes it briefly. I want to know more information about this religion. Who founded it? Do they believe in a god? If so which one? Why did it die out? Unfortunately, my head is swarming with an overload of questions. And I would really like to get some answers. I live right across from a graveyard. It only has about 20-30 grave stones in all. But it is small and quiet and old. Your book has inspired me to go looking around there every once and a while.
I was wondering about how Bod can do that cool unusual trick. Were he can fade, or haunt, or even dream walk. Was one of your purposes to write that in to show that anyone can learn how to fade? That you just need to be less narrow minded? Or was it the complete opposite? Because I think Jack states “…a child born who would walk the borderland between the living and the dead…” does that mean you HAVE to be on the border between the living and the dead? Or did they get it all wrong and it turns out that everyone is on the border, or no one is on the border?
Then there is the matter of the ending. It seems to me that every writer these days is writing about either how life is unfair and it is cruel. Or that life is great and full of hope. I have read some of your other books and have realized that you like to write from the point of view that life is full of strife with a little bit of laughter in it. But really, there is kind of a mix of both. Life can be happy at times but there is also a lot of pain in it too. Do you think that writers like to over exaggerate the truth of living to make their books seem more intense and dramatic? Or am I just too young to grasp the truth that life isn’t the best thing there is, And that we spend all our time wasting it that we never begin to enjoy it? After all, if we are always worrying about the landing, then we never will be able to enjoy the fall.
I am sorry, but it just seemed so odd that a child could remain sane when there is barely anyone to talk to besides Scarlett. I did not appreciate how in the end Bod was so willing to give up Scarlett for her own safety. I know that if I had a friend like her then I would never be able to say good bye, or use her as bait to get revenge. But then I guess that Bod isn’t really like most humans is he? I have another question (sorry to drown on and on like this) but isn’t it a bit weird that he spent his whole teenage hood without ever having a crush on somebody? I thought that as soon as he met Scarlett that they would, over time, grow to like each other more than friends! Even while he was at school, he never really wanted to go up to anyone and start a conversation with them. Is that part of the half human half not human part of him? That he will never grow to love another one of his own kind. If he didn’t fall for Scarlett then I thought he would fall for a ghost that is around his age. Like the witch. Is it just part of your style of writing to never let the character find true happiness in love? It’s just that he seemed way to willing to leave the graveyard and set out on his own. But today you can’t just walk down the streets and expect to get anywhere without a passport of a birth certificate. I would also like to know how did you come up with this idea for a kid named Nobody who lives in a graveyard and is raised by ghosts? Do you believe in ghosts and ghouls and hounds of god and thing like that? Like I said before, I over think a bit too much. If you have enough time in your busy schedule to respond to my questions and comments, I would greatly appreciate that. But if you can’t, well… that’s okay I understand. I hope you write more books and especially more books about Nobody Owens and his life.