I read this novel when it first came out. It was the author's tribute to Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Books, only instead of Mowgli being brought up in the judge by animals, the Mowgli character, Nobody Owens, Bod for short, is bought up in a graveyard by ghosts, with Silas, a vampire who can leave the graveyard, bringing in food and taking charge of arranging his education. He's there because he toddled to the local cemetery when his entire family was murdered and the killer is still looking for him - a killer who is not quite human.
It was a wonderful book, but I'd forgotten it was written as linked short stories. In each one, Bod has a new adventure in a different part of the graveyard as he grows up, learning something new. In one, he is carried off by ghouls, but a language he has learned enables him to call for help. In another, he meets an unusual ghost, a young witch who never had a headstone. And lest you forget how much danger awaits him outside the graveyard, you're reminded.
This format gives the opportunity to have the illustration done by individual artists - and it also means that, while you'd like to finish the book, it can be presented as Volume 1 without too much stress to the reader. And the next volume will be out in October, so be patient! The stories for this volume end with a chilling Interlude in which the killer stalking Bod makes an appearance.
I do love graphic novels; the art and text combine to tell the story and when it's a graphic version of a novel, as this one is, it tells the story in a simpler manner for children who might be reluctant readers. It's also able to show such awful things as the dead family, including a child, and little Bod, sucking on a dummy, toddling along towards the graveyard without knowing what has happened, rather than having to describe them.
It's a lovely book which will appeal both to fans of the original and new readers. Highly recommended!
Coming out in Australia on August 1, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment