By: Neil Gaiman Publisher: Harper Perennial Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Harper Perennial Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 192 Publication Date: September 01, 2006 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: August 29, 2006
Amazon.com: Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers ("We trod the boards, luvvy") and the mustachioed old man under the roof ("'The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,' said the man upstairs, 'is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed.'") Coraline contents herself for weeks with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious.
What's on the other side of the door? A distorted-mirror world, containing presumably everything Coraline has ever dreamed of... people who pronounce her name correctly (not "Caroline"), delicious meals (not like her father's overblown "recipes"), an unusually pink and green bedroom (not like her dull one), and plenty of horrible (very un-boring) marvels, like a man made out of live rats. The creepiest part, however, is her mirrored parents, her "other mother" and her "other father"--people who look just like her own parents, but with big, shiny, black button eyes, paper-white skin... and a keen desire to keep her on their side of the door. To make creepy creepier, Coraline has been illustrated masterfully in scritchy, terrifying ink drawings by British mixed-media artist and Sandman cover illustrator Dave McKean. This delightful, funny, haunting, scary as heck, fairy-tale novel is about as fine as they come. Highly recommended. (Ages 11 and older) --Karin Snelson
Product Description:
In Coraline's family's new flat there's a locked door. On the other side is a brick wall—until Coraline unlocks the door . . . and finds a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.
Only different.
The food is better there. Books have pictures that writhe and crawl and shimmer. And there's another mother and father there who want Coraline to be their little girl. They want to change her and keep her with them. . . . Forever.
Coraline is an extraordinary fairy tale/nightmare from the uniquely skewed imagination of #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman.
Download Description: Contains half a dozen e-book extras, not available in the standard print edition, including facsimile pages of Neil Gaiman's Coraline notebook and additional illustrations by Dave McKean. Terry Pratchett: "Coraline has the delicate horror of the finest fairy tales, and it is a masterpiece." The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring... In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only it's different. At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself. Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.
Lovely tale of adventure for all ages. Coraline is a somewhat bored young girl in a new home. She's an explorer at heart, so she pokes about the new place - even into the dark corners best left undisturbed.
A lovely book with a brave young protagonist, who takes matters into her own hands when things go awry at home, despite the warnings, dangers & the unknown. Only she could make things right.
Meant for children, yes, but a nice, quick read for us old fogies, too.
Deliciously creepy! Coraline's parents are too busy to give her the attention she craves and no one can seem to figure out how to pronounce her name correctly. While exploring one day, she finds a secret door that leads into a parallel universe where her "other parents" dote on her and everyone says her name properly. At first, she enjoys her "other home," but when she is ready to return to her normal life, she realizes that her "other mother" has other plans. Coraline must find a way to be brave and outsmart the evil "other mother" in order to find her way home.
Deliciously creepy!
The truth about the book " Coraline" It's Coraline, not Caroline. That's Coraline's problem. no one gets her name right. It's boring glum in her old flat apartment.You'd think crazy Mr. Bobo who is raising a mice circus would keep her busy since her parents have no time for her. One day Coraline finds a door to a world almost congruent to her own. Every thing is alike from her Dad's office to her great grandma's junk packed room, When a women with paper white skin and button eyes in this world seems to "love" Coraline. So maybe if this women is crazy enough to knit buttons in her head, she's crazy enough to try and win Coraline's love by smashing the whole world together. Worse, she takes her anger of failing outon her right hand. Will Coraline escape while her blood still flows?
A Coming of Age Story Minus the Coming of Age Coraline is a kid. That obvious truth struck me many times throughout this amazing little gem by Neil Gaiman of "American Gods" fame. Not to blunt my praise for Gaiman's creative ability, but he MUST have drawn on his parenting experiences for "Coraline." The titular character is equal parts charmingly honest and frusteratingly picky, she styles herself as independent but her world is bordered by the arms of her parents. People will inevitably compare this book to "Alice and Wonderland," but Coraline (not Caroline, mind you) is not a moralizing avatar of the author. She is a self-styled explorer that any kid (boy or girl) could easily get behind.
That's not to say that Gaiman's only triumph is creating a single great character. The narrative has a unique way of causing fear that I've honestly never seen before. To all but the most sensitive children "Coraline" is a great spooky tale to tell kids old enough to understand the concept of fiction. (anyone reading Goosebumps or other kid-friendly thrillers) Adults, specifically parents, may feel a different kind of fear as Coraline enters a very twisted version of her own home. It may even be more terrifying to a parent that, at it's heart, "Coraline" is a story about a young girl that is kidnapped by a hostile and even murderous force.
To go into setting and the other plot details would destroy a lot of the suspense that mounts as Coraline explores her new world. It's best that the reader encounters them as Coraline does: brave and horrified. However, it is worth noting that this isn't a story aimed at seeing the child-hero through to adulthood. It's not a innocence-crushing coming of age tale. If anything the journey makes Coraline just a bit more grateful for what she has, and that's a lesson that any kid can take to heart.
If this were just an excellent piece of children's fiction it would easily deserve five stars. As it is a delightful read for any age it should be purchased immeadiately for anyone even slighlty interested in the sort of surreal fairy tale that Gaiman has mastered writing.
Lovely This story of a little girl who loses her parents is quite entertaining. A little too short but since it was made for his kids, it's alright. Made for children but an adult can like this just the same since most of the time it's not infantile at all. Very cute, very creepy, I love it.
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