If you haven't read this 2009 Newbery winner, what are you waiting for??

Gaiman, Neil (2008). The Graveyard Book. Grades 5 and up.

Gaiman creates a character named Nobody "Bod" Owens, who is raised in a graveyard, which he wandered into as a toddler. The very night that he was found and adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Owens, a ghostly couple, his own family was murdered by a man called "Jack." After much deliberation, the inhabitants of the graveyard decide to accept Bod and protect him from "Jack" who still pursues the boy. Mr. and Mrs. Owens adopt the boy as their own, but also appoint a guardian named Silas. Until he is a teen, Bod experiences various adventures, both in and out of the graveyard, often having to be rescued by his guardian, Silas.

Although the book may seem chilling and dark, it is filled with bits of humor and emotion that make Bod a very likeable and believable character.