The Graveyard Book is a fantasy novel written by English author Neil Gaiman that was first published in 2008. This young adult novel tells the story of Nobody ‘Bod’ Owens who was raised by a graveyard of cemetery denizens after his family was murdered.

How would you describe Bob? To what extent does his upbringing environment differ him from those raised by humans? What were the physical and emotional conflicts faced by Bod in this story, and how did he deal with them? 

“A graveyard is not normally a democracy, and yet death is the great democracy.” How is death the great democracy? What is the relationship between the dead and the living as portrayed in the book? How does fear play a role in this?

Near the end of the novel, Mrs Owens sang about embracing the human experience: “Face your life / Its pain, its pleasure, / Leave no path untaken.” What do you think of this description, and how does this theme resonate throughout the story?