The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

When Bod was a toddler, his entire family was murdered as they slept.  Bod escaped into a nearby graveyard where the ghosts and creatures of the graveyard decided to care for him and protect him.  As Bod grows up, he is taught about the world as the ghosts understand it.  He is taught to Fade, Dreamwalk and cast Fear on people.  But he is not allowed to leave the protection of the graveyard.  When he does venture out, he finds himself confused about the living and where he himself fits in their society.  Will he be able to survive the horrors of the living?

Gaiman has done it again, taking what could have been a simple horror book and infusing it with humanity, grace and substance.  It is a delight to explore the graveyard through Bod’s eyes and meet its many denizens.  Bod’s adventures range from the everyday boyhood mishaps of a normal childhood to the more amazing and surprising encounters with ghouls, witches and murderers.  Gaiman does a masterful job of combining the two, creating a novel filled with adventure and horror that is entirely appropriate for young readers.

Gaiman’s characters are intriguing and believable, right down to the ghosts themselves.  Bod is a wonderful hero with plenty of nerve, gumption, and smarts.  It is his character who makes the entire novel work, his reactions that allow us our own and his voice that carries the book. 

One of the best ghost stories to come out in recent years, this novel is appropriate for ages 10 and up.