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    Coraline
    Coraline
    Coraline
    Ebook163 pages2 hours

    Coraline

    By Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

    4.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    New York Times bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning author Neil Gaiman’s modern classic, Coraline—also an Academy Award-nominated film

    "Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house...."

    When Coraline steps through a door to find another house strangely similar to her own (only better), things seem marvelous.

    But there's another mother there, and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.

    Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and courage if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.

    Neil Gaiman's Coraline is a can't-miss classic that enthralls readers age 8 to 12 but also adults who enjoy a perfect smart spooky read.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061972638
    Author

    Neil Gaiman

    Neil Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling and multi-award winning author and creator of many beloved books, graphic novels, short stories, film, television and theatre for all ages. He is the recipient of the Newbery and Carnegie Medals, and many Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner Awards. Neil has adapted many of his works to television series, including Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett) and The Sandman. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and Professor in the Arts at Bard College. For a lot more about his work, please visit: https://www.neilgaiman.com/

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    Reviews for Coraline

    4.5/5

    490 ratings305 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a great story, with a nice pace and a mix of horror and comedy. It is delightfully creepy without being too scary, making it suitable for younger children. The book is even creepier than the movie, with a real monster that is older and slower in the corridor. It is a treat for fans of gothic literature and styles. Despite being a horror book, it slowly builds up fear and has a beautiful moral. The snarky cat is also a highlight. Overall, readers highly recommend this book.

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      What’s a young girl to do when her parents seem to be ignoring her – perhaps explore the new house? A delightful short novel about Coralines’ encounters with her “other parents” who are intent on keeping her forever. Gaiman hits the mark with the psychological terror, without making it ridiculous. Not his best, but still a great read.
    • 3/5
      I am not a fan of comics. Maybe that's because I didn't grow up reading them, or, maybe I'm just too uptight; though, my fiance says I should try to read a few just for kicks. I'm not so sure. After reading a highly praised "comic" book that felt kind of flat, it's hard for me to jump on the comic book band wagon. I know people raved about Neil Gaimon's Coraline (especially people who loved the Sandman series--which I do like), but I didn't like it. Coraline is little like Van Allsburg's books like The Garden of Abdul Gasazi or The Mysteries of Harris Burdick but it isn't as inspired. The characters were dark as was the whole story wrapped within a story plot, but the ending was anticlimatic. At least the style and language of the story were clear. It felt like the story wanted to be a more complex adult novel or a children's book with more illustrations. It clumsily follows on the heals of the rereleases of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, but Coraline remained too simple and too dark throughout. It wasn't magical. I might take a look at some of his other stuff, but I wont rush out to do it.
    • 3/5
      I've decided that I prefer the movie over the book. In the book, I didn't sense Coraline's distaste towards her parents, which plays a huge part. Also, the movie is more creative in many aspects. The book does has some interesting concepts though.
    • 5/5
      I finally got around to reading this book. I don't know why I kept putting it off. It was a nice short easy read. I had seen some of the movie and usually when I see the movie first I am afraid to read the book because 1. I usually know what is going to happen and then the book just isn't as good. 2. I start comparing the book and the movie and don't pay attention to the book.Coraline is a cute story of a girl who moves to a new house and is bored. Her parents don't really pay attention to her. She doesn't like her life. And she learns just exactly how precious her true family really is to her.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I read it in 2 hours. I had never read Gaiman before. I picked this one up when I couldn't find Stardust at the library. I am so glad I did. Coraline finds a door to nowhere in her new flat which actually turns out to be a way into another, scarier version of her own house. The book reminded me a lot of Pan's Labyrinth in its fantastical style, it's surreal and terrifying characters.A wonderful, disturbing book that will probably give me nightmares. Black buttons will feature prominently.
    • 4/5
      Creepy ring of changes on the alienated young-person motif. In this case she finds her way to a wonderful place within her own house only to discover that it is perhaps not so wonderful. Superb.
    • 4/5
      I've already read this, but I'm listening to the audio book, which is narrated by Gaiman himself. It's fabulous.
    • 4/5
      Coraline goes on an adventure in her new house to the other world, which looks exactly like hers except her other parents have button eyes and want to sew buttons onto her eyes. The other mother traps Coraline in the other world and the traps her parents in the mirror. Coraline has to find the lost souls and defeat the other mother to escape. In the end, the other mother's right hand gets chopped off and follows Coraline for the key to the door that leads into the other world. Coraline baits the key on an old well outside of her home and when the hand grabs it, it falls through the well and Coraline boards it up. This book was VERY creepy and on the border of being too scary, but it was very suspenseful and kept me on the edge. I can't begin to imagine a hand following me!! Super creepy!!
    • 5/5
      This book made me have goosbumps. I reading kept on reading until I finished because this book isn't boring enough to stop reading.
    • 5/5
      What an amazing story. Told from the point of view of a young girl, this is a tale about courage and defining what kind of world she wants to live in. The language and way of thinking are captured perfectly and the way that Coraline reasons her way out of a dangerous situation is quite ingenious. I loved it.
    • 5/5
      Delightfully creepy and excellent for all ages.
    • 5/5
      It's too scary to be a children's book right. I'm so loving it!
    • 4/5
      Really more of a young adult type of spooky story. I liked it.
    • 4/5
      What I liked about this book was Coraline's bravery and her intelligence. She isn't one of those silly kids who just wants her own way, and so she isn't taken in. What I found sad was that she had to do it on her own, with the exception of a little help from a cat. Even after the adventure was mostly over, her parents aren't part of the solution - they don't even remember what Coraline did for them.
    • 4/5
      The big theme in this book, at least in my opinion, is that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. In fact, the other side can be quite terrifying! Coraline is feeling bored and a little left out by her parents who seem to spend most of their time working. School is still out for the summer so to pass the time, she discovers this passageway. The passageway leads to an alternate universe of sorts where her parents are extremely attentive, even overly so. Eventually she starts to realize that this is not what she wanted at all and that’s where the terror begins. Although this book wasn’t really scary, it did have it’s moments. I loved Gaiman’s imagery and attention to detail. My favorite character was probably the cat. Who doesn’t want a talking cat?!
    • 4/5
      Just trying on another Neil Gaiman since American Gods scared me away. Coraline was most imaginative and enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      Gaiman, Neil. (2002) Coraline. Illustrated by Dave Mckean. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.This is the story of a girl name Coraline who moves into a new home with her parents and discovers new parents in a secret part of the house. The fantasy elements of the story include the parents and the secret part of the house. She dives into a new world where everything seems great at first. The author makes this story believable by beginning it in a normal fashion with Coraline being a curious kid that explores her new home and all its little corners. The plot seems to be original and could be the wish of many a kids that always wondered what it would be like to have a whole separate set of parents. Coraline learns thought that these new parents are not what she expected and at times the story can get a little scary as she figures out a way to save herself and not be like the other kids that were kidnapped and kept in this other world. A great read that teaches kids that anyone can overcome evil.
    • 5/5
      I saw the 3-D movie version of this first and just loved the way the story was so artistically done. I'm not sure I would have appreciated the book itself as much had I read it first. Not that it isn't a good story for kids. I found it to be quirky and whimsical with just the right touch of creepy--but the movie is what grabbed all my senses, and I was transported to Coraline's world and I was a little girl again, mesmerized and enchanted.Just read it with an open, innocent heart and let the simplicity of the tale take you back in time before you were a jaded, demanding adult. Just accept it for what it is and you will be a kid again, if for only a moment in time.
    • 3/5
      Spooky and weird!
    • 4/5
      Excellent story about a girl who passes through a cubbard in her home into an alternative world where her "parents" there don't want her to leave. The right blend of spooky and hope, and just a bit unsettling.
    • 4/5
      Soon after Coraline moves into her new home, she discovers a parallel world. This world is very intriguing especially since it offers everything she thinks she desires. Her other mother and father are kind and give her whatever she wants: great-tasting food, amazing toys, attention. But when they bring out the buttons to sew onto her eyes, quickly she realizes she wants her real parents back in her real world, but is it too late? She finds her parents along with other souls trapped by her "other" mother. She fights even when she is deathly afraid to get her real parents back. This is when we see the inner strength Coraline possesses. This is a good text for young students and even adults because it shows personal growth/maturity, courage, and family. These are all important themes to teach in a classroom of any age. Students need more examples of being brave and courageous when fighting for what they love. Coraline gives a good example of a family, although they may not be perfect she shows her love for them and saves them. We also see Coraline's inner strength and maturity throughout her struggle with her "other" mother. As a teacher, I would take time out to examine the great sensory imagery used by Neil Gaiman. I might allow students to pick out a section of the text and draw their own spooky interpretation of his text.This is a text children can relate to; Coraline is a young, bored girl who wants adventure and things the way she wants them, a lot like any other child. The spooky story was very enticing to me, but I am not sure all students would like this type of creepy story. It reminded me of the movie in some ways, but I thought the sensory details were very powerful in text, maybe more so. It kept me interested and wanting to know more. Although I had no doubt that she would save her parents, I did find myself wondering when she finally would. I also really enjoyed the spooky illustrations in the book. This story can keep the attention of many minds at any age.
    • 5/5
      This spooky story would be a great read for the month of October. The elements of horror are tame enough that they are more exciting than terrifying. I would like to do a character study with students with this book because there are some very eccentric and colorful characters.
    • 4/5
      children should be scared. fairy tales should not be bubble gum and lollipops where everyone is safe and wholesome or easily recognizable as the Black Bart. Coraline is creepy and moving in the just the right way to engage young people's minds and hearts.
    • 3/5
      I wanted to love Coraline, and undoubtedly there are some great elements here. But I've come to realize something is lost in Gaiman's writing when there isn't a visual component to the story. Only half the equation of a brilliant writer is here. Unfortunately, that only equals an average writer.
    • 4/5
      My favourite Gaiman so far. I don't quite know what to say about this marvellous book without giving too much away - Coraline is a thoroughly modern heroine but the roots of the story are firmly in the past. She's strong and brave but still very much a naughty child who comes to discover a doorway into a parallel world where getting what she wants has unintended consequences and she has to fight to regain what she really loves. Marvellously eccentric support characters too... Loved it.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars. Coraline is exploring her new home, and discovers a locked door, behind which is a brick wall. However, she is soon able to unlock the door to a dark passageway. The passageway leads to a replica of her own home; not only that, she discovers her "other mother" and "other father" in this side of the passage. Unfortunately, her other mother wants to keep her - and she will stop at nothing to do so! Coraline must win a game to win her life, and the lives of others including her parents, back. This was really good. I probably would have enjoyed it even more if I'd read it when I was younger. I will definitely be reading more of Gaiman's books in the future.
    • 4/5
      This was a very fast and easy read, being written in a style for a younger audience, but still having all of Gaiman's flare for the creepy. In fact, I don't know if I could have read this as a child. The whole story has the feel of a nightmare - not the kind that scares you for obvious reasons (though there are a few of those too), but the kind that is terrifying and you can hardly even say why.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed Coraline very much. Simple language with vivid imagery.
    • 3/5
      first line: "Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house."While I personally feel that Neil Gaiman's genius is best showcased by his endeavors for adult readers, I still really enjoyed Coraline.It's like the goth child's answer to Roald Dahl.With maybe a splash of Edward Gorey's aesthetic.And, of course, Gaiman's own imaginative stamp.
    • 5/5
      Curiously terrifying.

    Book preview

    Coraline - Neil Gaiman

    pa

    I.

    CORALINE DISCOVERED THE DOOR a little while after they moved into the house.

    It was a very old house—it had an attic under the roof and a cellar under the ground and an overgrown garden with huge old trees in it.

    Coraline’s family didn’t own all of the house—it was too big for that. Instead they owned part of it.

    There were other people who lived in the old house.

    Miss Spink and Miss Forcible lived in the flat below Coraline’s, on the ground floor. They were both old and round, and they lived in their flat with a number of ageing Highland terriers who had names like Hamish and Andrew and Jock. Once upon a time Miss Spink and Miss Forcible had been actresses, as Miss Spink told Coraline the first time she met her.

    You see, Caroline, Miss Spink said, getting Coraline’s name wrong, both myself and Miss Forcible were famous actresses, in our time. We trod the boards, luvvy. Oh, don’t let Hamish eat the fruitcake, or he’ll be up all night with his tummy.

    It’s Coraline. Not Caroline. Coraline, said Coraline.

    In the flat above Coraline’s, under the roof, was a crazy old man with a big mustache. He told Coraline that he was training a mouse circus. He wouldn’t let anyone see it.

    One day, little Caroline, when they are all ready, everyone in the whole world will see the wonders of my mouse circus. You ask me why you cannot see it now. Is that what you asked me?

    No, said Coraline quietly, I asked you not to call me Caroline. It’s Coraline.

    The reason you cannot see the mouse circus, said the man upstairs, "is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed. Also, they refuse to play the songs I have written for them. All the songs I have written for the mice to play go oompah oompah. But the white mice will only play toodle oodle, like that. I am thinking of trying them on different types of cheese."

    Coraline didn’t think there really was a mouse circus. She thought the old man was probably making it up.

    The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring.

    She explored the garden. It was a big garden: at the very back was an old tennis court, but no one in the house played tennis and the fence around the court had holes in it and the net had mostly rotted away; there was an old rose garden, filled with stunted, flyblown rosebushes; there was a rockery that was all rocks; there was a fairy ring, made of squidgy brown toadstools which smelled dreadful if you accidentally trod on them.

    There was also a well. On the first day Coraline’s family moved in, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible made a point of telling Coraline how dangerous the well was, and they warned her to be sure she kept away from it. So Coraline set off to explore for it, so that she knew where it was, to keep away from it properly.

    She found it on the third day, in an overgrown meadow beside the tennis court, behind a clump of trees—a low brick circle almost hidden in the high grass. The well had been covered up by wooden boards, to stop anyone falling in. There was a small knothole in one of the boards, and Coraline spent an afternoon dropping pebbles and acorns through the hole and waiting, and counting, until she heard the plop as they hit the water far below.

    Coraline also explored for animals. She found a hedgehog, and a snakeskin (but no snake), and a rock that looked just like a frog, and a toad that looked just like a rock.

    There was also a haughty black cat, who sat on walls and tree stumps and watched her but slipped away if ever she went over to try to play with it.

    That was how she spent her first two weeks in the house—exploring the garden and the grounds.

    Her mother made her come back inside for dinner and for lunch. And Coraline had to make sure she dressed up warm before she went out, for it was a very cold summer that year; but go out she did, exploring, every day until the day it rained, when Coraline had to stay inside.

    What should I do? asked Coraline.

    Read a book, said her mother. Watch a video. Play with your toys. Go and pester Miss Spink or Miss Forcible, or the crazy old man upstairs.

    No, said Coraline. I don’t want to do those things. I want to explore.

    I don’t really mind what you do, said Coraline’s mother, as long as you don’t make a mess.

    Coraline went over to the window and watched the rain come down. It wasn’t the kind of rain you could go out in—it was the other kind, the kind that threw itself down from the sky and splashed where it landed. It was rain that meant business, and currently its business was turning the garden into a muddy, wet soup.

    Coraline had watched all the videos. She was bored with her toys, and she’d read all her books.

    She turned on the television. She went from channel to channel to channel, but there was nothing on but men in suits talking about the stock market, and talk shows. Eventually, she found something to watch: it was the last half of a natural history program about something called protective coloration. She watched animals, birds, and insects which disguised themselves as leaves or twigs or other animals to escape from things that could hurt them. She enjoyed it, but it ended too soon and was followed by a program about a cake factory.

    It was time to talk to her father.

    Coraline’s father was home. Both of her parents worked, doing things on computers, which meant that they were home a lot of the time. Each of them had their own study.

    Hello Coraline, he said when she came in, without turning round.

    Mmph, said Coraline. It’s raining.

    Yup, said her father. It’s bucketing down.

    No, said Coraline. It’s just raining. Can I go outside?

    What does your mother say?

    She says you’re not going out in weather like that, Coraline Jones.

    Then, no.

    But I want to carry on exploring.

    Then explore the flat, suggested her father. Look—here’s a piece of paper and a pen. Count all the doors and windows. List everything blue. Mount an expedition to discover the hot water tank. And leave me alone to work.

    Can I go into the drawing room? The drawing room was where the Joneses kept the expensive (and uncomfortable) furniture Coraline’s grandmother had left them when she died. Coraline wasn’t allowed in there. Nobody went in there. It was only for best.

    If you don’t make a mess. And you don’t touch anything.

    Coraline considered this carefully, then she took the paper and pen and went off to explore the inside of the flat.

    She discovered the hot water tank (it was in a cupboard in the kitchen).

    She counted everything blue (153).

    She counted the windows (21).

    She counted the doors (14).

    Of the doors that she found, thirteen opened and closed. The other—the big, carved, brown wooden door at the far corner of the drawing room—was locked.

    She said to her mother, Where does that door go?

    Nowhere, dear.

    It has to go somewhere.

    Her mother shook her head. Look, she told Coraline.

    She reached up and took a string of keys from the top of the kitchen doorframe. She sorted through them carefully, and selected the oldest, biggest, blackest, rustiest key. They went into the drawing room. She unlocked the door with the key.

    The door swung open.

    Her mother was right. The door didn’t go anywhere. It opened onto a brick wall.

    When this place was just one house, said Coraline’s mother, that door went somewhere. When they turned the house into flats, they simply bricked it up. The other side is the empty flat on the other side of the house, the one that’s still for sale.

    She shut the door and put the string of keys back on top of the kitchen doorframe.

    You didn’t lock it, said Coraline.

    Her mother shrugged. Why should I lock it? she asked. It doesn’t go anywhere.

    Coraline didn’t say anything.

    It was nearly dark outside now, and the rain was still coming down, pattering against the windows and blurring the lights of the cars in the street outside.

    Coraline’s father stopped working and made them all dinner.

    Coraline was disgusted. Daddy, she said, "you’ve made a recipe again."

    It’s leek and potato stew with a tarragon garnish and melted Gruyère cheese, he admitted.

    Coraline sighed. Then she went to the freezer and got out some microwave chips and a microwave minipizza.

    You know I don’t like recipes, she told her father, while her dinner went around and around and the little red numbers on the microwave oven counted down to zero.

    If you tried it, maybe you’d like it, said Coraline’s father, but she shook her head.

    That night, Coraline lay awake in her bed. The rain had stopped, and she was almost asleep when something went t-t-t-t-t-t. She sat up in bed.

    Something went kreeee . . .

          . . . aaaak

    Coraline got out of bed and looked down the hall, but saw nothing strange. She walked down the hall. From her parents’ bedroom came a low snoring—that was her father—and an occasional sleeping mutter—that was her mother.

    Coraline wondered if she’d dreamed it, whatever it was.

    Something moved.

    It was little more than a shadow, and it scuttled down the darkened hall fast, like a little patch of night.

    She hoped it wasn’t a spider. Spiders made Coraline intensely uncomfortable.

    The black shape went into the drawing room, and Coraline followed it a little nervously.

    The room was dark. The only light came from the hall, and Coraline, who was standing in the doorway, cast a huge and distorted shadow onto the drawing room carpet—she looked

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