Coraline (Bram Stoker Award for Young Readers) - Hardcover

Gaiman, Neil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380977788 ISBN 13: 9780380977789

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2000

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review

Despite being mostly known for his fantastical graphic novels and adult fiction, Neil Gaiman's first book for children is everything that you would expect from such a massive imagination as his. It's special and wonderful and very weird indeed. Described by some as the new Alice in Wonderland, Coraline is actually more bizarre than that, much more frightening and its modest length definitely adds to the book's undiluted potency.

Shortly after moving into an old house with strange tenants above and below, Coraline discovers a big, carved, brown wooden door at the far corner of the drawing room. And it is locked. Curiosity runs riot in Coraline's mind and she unlocks the door to see what lies behind it. Disappointingly, it opens onto a brick wall. Days later, after exploring the rest of the house and garden, Coraline returns to the same mysterious door and opens it again. This time, however, there is a dark hallway in front of her. Stepping inside, the place beyond has an eerie familiarity about it. The carpet and wallpaper are the same as in her flat. The picture hanging on the wall is the same. Almost. Strangest of all, her mum and dad are there too. Only they have buttons for eyes and seem more possessive than normal. It's a twisted version of her world that is familiar, and yet sinister. And matters get even more surreal for Coraline when her "other" parents seem reluctant to let her leave.

Her attempted escape from this nightmare alternative reality sees Coraline experience a chilling series of ever more bizarre encounters. Some are plainly odd, others disturbingly spooky and together they combine to form an immensely readable story. It's like all the best bits of the Goosebumps books condensed into 160 pages. A unique reading experience guaranteed. (Ages 10 and over)--John McLay

Review

"Gaiman's tale is inventive, scary, thrilling and finally affirmative. Readers young and old will find something to startle them."--Washington Post Book World

"Beautifully spooky. Gaiman actually seems to understand the way children think. "--Christian Science Monitor

"Chilly, finely-wrought prose, a truly weird setting and a fable that taps into our most uncomfortable fears."--Times Educational Supplement

"A modern ghost story with all the creepy trimmings...Well done."--New York Times Book 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

" Walk through the door and you'll believe in love, magic, and the power of good over evil."--USA Today

"A deliciously scary book that we loved reading together as a family."--Orson Scott Card

"So wonderfully whimsical that readers of all ages will hungrily devour itCoraline is destined to become a classic.--Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"A truly creepy tale. Beware those button eyes!"--Family Fun Magazine

"It has the delicate horror of the finest fairy tales, and it is a masterpiece."--Terry Pratchett

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0380977788
• ISBN 13: 9780380977789
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176
• Illustrator: McKean Dave