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Coraline Paperback – October 28, 2008
When Coraline explores her new home, she steps through a door and into another house just like her own . . . except that it's different. It's a marvelous adventure until Coraline discovers that there's also another mother and another father in the house. They want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to keep her forever!
Coraline must use all of her wits and every ounce of courage in order to save herself and return home.
- Print length176 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level3 - 6
- Dimensions5.25 x 0.5 x 8 inches
- PublisherHarper Entertainment
- Publication dateOctober 28, 2008
- ISBN-100061649694
- ISBN-13978-0061649691
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Coraline is by turns creepy and funny, bittersweet and playful…can be read quickly and enjoyed deeply.” (San Francisco Chronicle Book Review)
“A modern ghost story with all the creepy trimmings…Well done.” (New York Times Book Review)
“A magnificently creepy story…Coraline is spot on.” (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review)
“Gaiman’s pacing is superb, and he steers the tension of the tale with a deft and practiced narrative touch.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books)
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, rise to your feet and applaud: Coraline is the real thing.” (Philip Pullman, The Guardian)
“The most splendidly original, weird, and frightening book I have read, and yet full of things children will love.” (Diana Wynne Jones)
“It has the delicate horror of the finest fairy tales, and it is a masterpiece.” (Terry Pratchett)
“An electrifyingly creepy tale likely to haunt young readers for many moons.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))
“ Walk through the door and you’ll believe in love, magic, and the power of good over evil.” (USA Today)
“So wonderfully whimsical that readers of all ages will hungrily devour itCoraline is destined to become a classic. (Globe and Mail (Toronto))
“Chilly, finely-wrought prose, a truly weird setting and a fable that taps into our most uncomfortable fears.” (Times Educational Supplement)
“A deliciously scary book that we loved reading together as a family.” (Orson Scott Card)
“Beautifully spooky. Gaiman actually seems to understand the way children think. ” (Christian Science Monitor)
“A truly creepy tale. Beware those button eyes!” (Family Fun Magazine)
About the Author
Neil Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains; the Sandman series of graphic novels; and the story collections Smoke and Mirrors, Fragile Things, and Trigger Warning. He is the winner of numerous literary honors, including the Hugo, Bram Stoker, and World Fantasy awards, and the Newbery and Carnegie Medals. Originally from England, he now lives in the United States. He is Professor in the Arts at Bard College.
Dave McKean is best known for his work on Neil Gaiman's Sandman series of graphic novels and for his CD covers for musicians from Tori Amos to Alice Cooper. He also illustrated Neil Gaiman's picture books The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, The Wolves in the Walls, and Crazy Hair. He is a cult figure in the comic book world, and is also a photographer.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Coraline Movie Tie-in Edition
By Neil GaimanHarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2008 Neil GaimanAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9780061649691
Chapter One
Fairy Tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten
-- G.K. Chesterton.
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 fruit cake, 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 moustache. 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 rose-bushes; 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. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible made a point of telling Coraline how dangerous the well was, on the first day Coraline's family moved in, and 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 knot-hole 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 plopas they hit the water, far below.
Coraline also explored for animals. She found a hedgehog, and a snake-skin (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 would sit on walls and tree stumps, and watch her; but would slip 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 schools programmes. Eventually, she found something to watch: it was the last half of a natural history programme 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 programme 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...
Continues...
Excerpted from Coraline Movie Tie-in Editionby Neil Gaiman Copyright © 2008 by Neil Gaiman. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : Harper Entertainment; Reprint edition (October 28, 2008)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 176 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0061649694
- ISBN-13 : 978-0061649691
- Reading age : 8+ years, from customers
- Grade level : 3 - 6
- Item Weight : 4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.5 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,637,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,869 in Children's Spine-Chilling Horror
- #6,019 in Fantasy Graphic Novels (Books)
- #22,030 in Children's Fantasy & Magic Books
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including Norse Mythology, Neverwhere, and The Graveyard Book. Among his numerous literary awards are the Newbery and Carnegie medals, and the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner awards. He is a Professor in the Arts at Bard College.
Philip Craig Russell (born October 30, 1951 in Wellsville, Ohio), also known as P. Craig Russell, is an American comic book writer, artist, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by MichaelNetzer (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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Or does it?
Because when Coraline unlocks and opens the fourteenth door, there isn't a brick wall there. Instead, she discovers another flat - which looks exactly like her own. At first, the other flat is really nice. The food there is much better, and her bedroom has a toy box with windup toys that are great fun. There's also another mother and another father. And they want Coraline to become their other daughter. But, in order to do so, Coraline would have to change.
And that's where the trouble begins.
I must confess that I am not one to read scary stories. If I do, I do so during the daytime, with all the lights on in the house. You can never be sure when the scary monsters will come out, after all. As such, I have not read many books by Mr. Gaiman. This is only the third, the first two being Odd and the Frost Giants and Norse Mythology - neither one of which falls into the category of scary story. As I had heard many good things about Coraline, and it's written for readers aged 9 and up, I thought it would be a safe enough option for me.
I loved it.
It did still scare me (I freely admit to being an adult scaredy cat), but I continued listening. As Coraline puts it, "when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave." For Coraline, I was brave.
I should first point out that I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Mr. Gaiman himself. I am often leery of author-read audiobooks because, while they may be wizards with the written word, narrating involves an entirely different skill-set, and many authors just don't have it. Neil Gaiman does. His narration absolutely pulled me right into the story from the very beginning, and his knowledge of the story and the characters meant that he knew exactly what to emphasize and where to add tension to make the audiobook a truly great experience.
From the beginning, when Coraline has to entertain herself because her parents don't have time for her to the end when Coraline finally ... no, I shouldn't say that. I don't want to give away spoilers. Anyway, from the beginning to the end, Gaiman weaves a tale that is fantastical, suspenseful, and wonderful. I loved the running - not really a joke or a gag, so much as a continuation of incompetency, so we'll go with that - the running incompetency of the other residents in Coraline's building being unable to say her name correctly; they keep calling her Caroline, even after she has corrected them...multiple times.
Beyond the human characters - and I'm including other mother and other father in that category despite their being ... not really human - are the animal characters with which Coraline interacts multiple times. The rats. Oh. My. God. The rats. They sang. And I'm not talking about pretty little songs written by Disney musicians that will make you feel all happy and light. Oh, no. These rats sang songs that were dark and creepy and just... *shivers*.
But, also... I loved those rats. I don't know why. There might be something wrong with me. But I thought they were great characters, and that's not even considering the old man who trains them. Then there's the cat. That cat is perfect, as anyone who has ever been owned by a cat can attest.
In addition to all the great characters of both the creepy and non-creepy variety, Gaiman also weaves some wonderful themes in the story about love, family, fear, and bravery. As such, despite the creepiness of this story, I suspect that will become one of those stories that I revisit around Halloween each year, whether that's as a reread or a relisten.
What about you? Will you also take a chance on this story? I vote for yes, but you obviously have the deciding vote...
I recently hit an apathy wall when I started reading a new book by a favorite author. I got two chapters in and realized, “I’m just not enjoying this.” The prose was great and the story was intriguing, but I couldn’t shake the indifference. It took me a while to realize that my reading mind was over-saturated. The quality was irrelevant, I was just bored. And what’s the remedy for any boring activity? Do something else.
And so I switched to fantasy. But not just any fantasy, and I specifically avoided epic fantasy because I didn’t want to get halfway through a giant tome only to realize that I had made a mistake. I wanted a simple, digestible, yet high-quality fantasy. Once I started that search, it didn’t take long to narrow it down to Neil Gaiman.
Coraline fit the bill, which had already set itself apart as one of the most beloved children’s fantasy stories of all time. I had already watched the stop-motion movie, which was fantastic. This gave me the opportunity to play every reader’s favorite game: “Which is better?” (Spoiler alert: they’re both fantastic.)
Oh what a breath of fresh air Coraline was. It’s a shorter read, more novella than novel, but that doesn’t matter in the slightest because you get the feeling that Gaiman hand-selected each word from a bowl of perfection. The prose is simply magical and it seizes your attention from the very first page.
The story follows the titled protagonist, a young girl who is small for her age, as her family moves into a new house. While exploring, she discovers a portal into another house. It’s a mirror image with all sorts of fun and adventure, but with a sinister underbelly. She slowly uncovers that mystery, which pulls her into a mission to save her family.
This story can easily be read in a single sitting. But when you find a bowl of candy, it’s best not to eat it all at once. This was the first time in recent memory where I intentionally doled out a book to myself. I read a few chapters a night over the course of a week, which was a delightful way to end each day. I was actually sad when Coraline ended because it was the reading tonic I sorely needed. Thank you, Mr. Gaiman. What a masterpiece.
Top reviews from other countries
Quanto à qualidade do livro, não é muito boa. A capa é bem frágil e não tem orelhas, creio que a maioria dos livros em inglês são assim.
As páginas são bem finas, como páginas de bíblia.
Mas nada disso atrapalha minha leitura, então não há problema.
Quanto à história, leiam! É muito boa!
Coraline es una lectura ligera, muy bien escrita y sin duda que no vas a querer parar de leer hasta terminar.
La adaptación de este libro la he visto gran cantidad de veces y la considero de mis preferidas, tenía el pensamiento de que el libro sería aún mejor, pero no, simplemente es algo distinta pero no por ello mala. Hay cosas que la adaptación no tiene del libro y otras que el libro no tiene de la adaptación y aún así la esencia tétrica y emocionante es la misma.
Coraline es un personaje sumamente interesante, es una niña muy valiente y lista que se roba una parte de tu corazón seguro.
Lo recomiendo mucho, la prosa de Neil Gaiman es muy buena y eso que va para un público infantil.
Reviewed in Mexico on August 13, 2021
Coraline es una lectura ligera, muy bien escrita y sin duda que no vas a querer parar de leer hasta terminar.
La adaptación de este libro la he visto gran cantidad de veces y la considero de mis preferidas, tenía el pensamiento de que el libro sería aún mejor, pero no, simplemente es algo distinta pero no por ello mala. Hay cosas que la adaptación no tiene del libro y otras que el libro no tiene de la adaptación y aún así la esencia tétrica y emocionante es la misma.
Coraline es un personaje sumamente interesante, es una niña muy valiente y lista que se roba una parte de tu corazón seguro.
Lo recomiendo mucho, la prosa de Neil Gaiman es muy buena y eso que va para un público infantil.