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It was published in 2008, won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2010 and is a darkly, funny tale.

I’ve just finished Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book featuring the story of Nobody Owens – a normal boy, known to his friends as Bod, who lives in a graveyard. Brought up and educated by ghosts, he is initially prevented form leaving, because the real danger to his life exists in the ‘real’ world outside the graveyard. For anyone who feels at home with stories of ghosts, vampires, witches and werewolves, then this is must. Bod is very much at home in the graveyard. His parents, Mr & Mrs Owens are there – both dead of course, so at least he can live at home again. Quite how this happened and how they all came to be there as a ‘family’, is the gist of the story. For a while, as Bod grows up, this is all quite normal!

I’ve had this book for quite some time, but like all of Gaiman’s stories, it’s one to savour. Beautifully, but sparsely, illustrated by award-winning illustrator and cartoonist Chris Riddell. This is another masterpiece of storytelling – a children’s (and certainly adults) classic.

Sadly, London Book Fair 2024 has come and gone. It’s now just a week since the doors closed on what I estimate was a very successful event.

Certainly it appeared better laid out and the new LBF app proved invaluable. Not only could I find all the seminars listed by day, but was able to highlight my choices and get a 10 minute reminder of the start. Using the LiveVoice app also made it possible to listen to the main stage presentations, without having to join an endless queue.