The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This is the story of Nobody Owens (Bod, for short), whose family was killed when he was an infant.  After that early tragedy, Bod spends a relatively happy childhood in a neighboring graveyard with his new family of ghosts and other paranormal creatures.  They teach him the things he will need to function in the world of the living, as well as many of their own secrets.  Bod has many adventures and a few brushes with the danger; after all, not everything that lurks in the graveyard is friendly.  As he approaches adulthood, he will have to confront a very human threat-- the man that murdered his first family is still stalking him, and he will need the help of the graveyard denizens to defeat him.

Bod’s story is both scary and heartwarming, as his found family helps him to grow into a good man.  Neil Gaiman has said that he got the idea for the story while walking in a cemetery and wondering how Kipling’s classic, The Jungle Book, would have been different if set in a graveyard.  Winner of the Newbery Medal in 2009, this is a perfect tale for the Halloween season.