The Graveyard Book

Bod grows into a quiet child with gray eyes and mousy hair. Once he learns to talk, he asks questions incessantly. Ghosts often give him confusing answers, so Bod turns to Silas. Silas explains that Bod can’t leave the graveyard because this is where his family is and where he’s safe. He also explains that Bod will learn some skills, like Fading, Sliding, and Dreamwalking, if he practices—though Bod will have to wait much longer to learn other skills. Silas carefully notes that Bod was given the Freedom of the Graveyard, which means that the graveyard is taking care of Bod. One day, Bod asks who’s in a particular grave. When Silas realizes that Bod hasn’t been learning to read, he obtains alphabet books and begins teaching Bod, using the inscriptions on headstones.

One sunny day, Bod is copying inscriptions when a little girl appears and makes faces at him. Bod is impressed and feels dowdy next to her. She wears bright colors, while Bod is in his usual gray sheet. They introduce themselves and the girl—Scarlett—is sad to learn that Bod doesn’t celebrate birthdays. Scarlett decides that Bod is five, like her. She says that her mother is reading at the bottom of the hill and told her to not talk to strangers. Bod, she says, isn’t a stranger—he’s her friend. She asks if she can join him in finding letters on gravestones. Bod feels protective of the headstones but realizes he’ll have more fun with a friend. They search until Scarlett’s mother calls for her. That night, after Scarlett tells her parents about Bod, her parents discuss that imaginary friends are normal for five-year-olds.

On sunny days, one of Scarlett’s parents brings her to the graveyard. They sit and read while Scarlett finds Bod. Bod introduces Scarlett to his other friends. She doesn’t care that she can’t see these friends—her parents believe Bod is imaginary, so Scarlett figures Bod has imaginary friends, too. Scarlett is a lonely child since her family moves a lot. Her father teaches particle physics and has to move for each teaching job. As they traverse the graveyard, Bod tells Scarlett about his friends and the tombs. Scarlett tells Bod about airplanes and TV.

One afternoon, Scarlett asks who’s the oldest person in the graveyard. Bod thinks Caius Pompeius, who came to Britain 100 years after the first Romans, is the oldest. Then, Scarlett asks if they can play in one of the “stone houses.” Bod explains that they’re locked. He can get in because he has the Freedom of the Graveyard, but Scarlett can’t. Scarlett accuses Bod of being mean and storms away, though she suspects she’s being unfair. Over dinner that night, Scarlett asks her parents who inhabited Britain before the Romans. Her mother tells her about the Celts. In the graveyard, Bod asks Silas the same question. Silas affirms that there were people in Britain before the Romans, but Silas is more interested in Bod’s progress with the alphabet. He promises to find Bod someone who will teach him cursive.

After Silas leaves the graveyard, Bod calls Caius Pompeius and asks if he’s the oldest in the graveyard. Caius says that there’s a grave here for a person who lived before the Celts. Caius points to a hill and says the person is buried inside it. He explains that 300 years after Caius’s death, someone found the entrance to the gravesite and went in, seeking treasure. He came back out with white hair. Then, 200 years ago, someone found the grave again. This time, the man who went into the grave didn’t come back. Caius says he’s not sure who’s in the grave. But since Caius was buried, he’s been able to feel “waiting” deep in the hill.

The next day, Scarlett shares what she learned from her parents: that the people before the Romans buried their dead underground with treasure. The graves are called barrows. Bod nods and asks if Scarlett wants to see a barrow. Though Scarlett is nervous, Bod holds up a key and assures Scarlett she’ll be able to enter. Bod leads Scarlett to the Frobisher mausoleum, which is at the top of the barrow and has a secret tunnel down into the hill. When Bod points out the entrance to the tunnel, Scarlett is afraid. Remembering Caius Pompeius’s stories, Bod realizes he can’t assure Scarlett that everything will be fine. Instead, he suggests she stay in the mausoleum and he’ll report back. Instead, Scarlett follows him in.

Bod can see in the dark, so he takes Scarlett’s hands and guides her down the steps. He describes paintings and carvings in the walls and then says they’ve come to a big room. Bod can see a slab of stone and a ledge with small objects on it. There’s one old corpse on the floor. Both children hear a “rustling slither” as a dead man, the Indigo Man, walks toward them. He has purple designs on his skin and says that he’s the master of this grave. The Indigo Man tells the children to leave and doesn’t react when Bod says he has the Freedom of the Graveyard. This normally placates ghosts, so Bod asks Scarlett if she can see the Indigo Man. She can.

As the Indigo Man howls menacingly, Scarlett apologizes for saying the ghosts are imaginary. Bod, however, says this one isn’t real—Scarlett can’t see dead people. Scarlett realizes Bod is right and suggests it’s a scarecrow. Bod has never heard of scarecrows, but Scarlett explains that scarecrows are made-up things that look like people but frighten birds. Bod tells the Indigo Man that he’s not scary. At this, the Indigo Man lies down on the rock slab and disappears. Then, Bod and Scarlett hear something huge slithering around the room. The something says, “we are the Sleer.” Bod feels nervous, but Scarlett can’t hear it. She just hears the slithering noise.

The Sleer says that they “guard and protect” “the resting place of the master.” When Bod points out that the Sleer can only scare him and Scarlett, the Sleer says that fear is its greatest weapon. Noticing a brooch, a cup, and a knife on the ledge, Bod notes that the treasures are silly. The Sleer insists that they guard the treasures for the master. Bod shakes his head, which feels fuzzy, and leads Scarlett out of the barrow and the mausoleum. Then, they hear many people shouting for Scarlett. A police officer descends on the children and leads Scarlett to her parents, who are waiting in the chapel. No one notices Bod. Scarlett tells the adults what she and Bod found, but nobody believes her tale.

At twilight, Silas finds Bod at the amphitheater. Bod says unprompted that it’s all his fault that Scarlett is in trouble. He tells Silas that they went into the barrow grave, but they only found “a Sleer who scares people.” Three weeks later, Scarlett and her parents return to the graveyard. Once Scarlett’s parents look away, Bod greets Scarlett. Scarlett explains that she and her parents are moving to Scotland, which is a long ways away. She asks if Bod is dead. When he says he isn’t, she says he’ll have to grow up and live in the world someday. Bod insists he has to stay put for his safety. Scarlett calls Bod brave before returning to her parents.