A young boy grows up among ghosts in a graveyard after his family is murdered. Young Bod (short for Nobody) is a fourteen year old boy who has lived in a graveyard since he was an toddler.
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When he was a baby, a man with a knife murdered his family, the boy crawled up the hill to a nearby graveyard where the ghosts found him. Feeling sorry for him, and on the advice of a spirit called The Lady of the Gray, the ghostly Owens couple raised him as their own, giving him the name Nobody Owens. The Lady grants him the Freedom of the Graveyard, meaning he can see and speak to the dead there and even walk through solid matter there. Silas, the mysterious caretaker, takes responsibility for bringing the boy food and other things from outside.
Bod grows up happily in the graveyard and nearby, and makes friends with a girl his own age named Scarlett for a while till her family moves away. He has various adventures as he grows up, involving supernatural creatures like ghouls and the ghost of a witch. Bod also learns to control various abilities granted to him by his unusual circumstances, including invisibility and entering dreams. He is tutored by an old lady who is a werewolf and even manages to go to school for a little while before it gets to risky. Unknown to him the man who murdered his family is still looking for him to complete the job, and he is not alone, he belongs to a chaotic order called The Jacks of All Trades,
When he turns fourteen Scarlett and her mother move back and the two now-teens reconnect again. Bod also makes friends with a local historian named Jay Frost. Scarlett helps Bod investigate the murder of his family, and they discover that the historian lives in Bod's childhood home. Bod visits in order to find out more and to his horror realizes that the historian and the murderer are one and the same.
The historian, revealed to be Jack Frost, one of the Jack of All Trades, chases the two teens to the graveyard. There is a confrontation where Bod's supernatural friends reveal themselves to be an Honor Guard that have fought the Jacks through the ages. Eventually Jack Frost is defeated, a traumatized Scarlett has her memories of the events wiped and left with the post-hypnotic suggestion that she and her mother should move back to Scotland.
In the end, a now adult Bod loses his supernatural abilities and moves on to live in the normal world.
Best part of story, including ending:
The world Bod grows up with is oddly idyllic and sweet despite his tragic beginning, his substitute family is weird but care for him a lot.
Best scene in story:
When Jack Frost is revealed, it's very scary but you also sort of feel bad for the man he was pretending to be.
Opinion about the main character:
Bod is a sweet kid, probably a bit more clever and deep than a real boy that age would really be, though.
