Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: HarperTrophy
Release Date: August 5, 2003
ISBN: 0-380-80734-3
Awards: Bulletin Blue Ribbon (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books), Publishers Weekly Best Book, Child Magazine Best Book of the Year, New York Public Library's “One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing,” Amazon.com Editors’ Choice, ALA Notable Children’s Book, ALA Best Book for Young Adults,New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, IRA/CBC Children's Choice, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Masterlist (Vermont), Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers, Hugo Award for Best Novella, School Library Journal Best Book
Format Reviewed: Paperback
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Read an Excerpt
Genre: Children’s – Fiction – Fantasy/Horror – Ages 8-up
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Kristin Johnson
Reviewer Notes: Reviewer, Kristin Johnson just released her second book, CHRISTMAS COOKIES ARE FOR GIVING, co-written with Mimi Cummins, in October 2003. Her third book, ORDINARY MIRACLES: My Incredible Spiritual, Artistic and Scientific Journey, co-written with Sir Rupert A.L. Perrin, M.D., is now available from PublishAmerica.
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Coraline
By Neil Gaiman (illustrated by Dave McKean)


American Gods author and Sandman creator Neil Gaiman takes a bit of Narnia, Labyrinth, Roald Dahl, some of The Green Mile, and a bit of M. Night Shyamalan, bakes it in the oven, and serves up a delicious, original pizza pie with pineapple called Coraline. But don’t tell that to Coraline Jones, a British preteen whose mother won’t buy her green Day-Glo gloves and whose father makes potato and leek stew with tarragon. Coraline lives in a flat in an old house where there’s not much to do (so Coraline thinks) on summer days except talk to the crazy old man upstairs (named Mr. Bobo) who gets her name wrong and has a mousestra, or to retired actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (who remind one of nicer versions of Aunts Sponge and Spiker in James and the Giant Peach).

There’s not much to do…until Coraline walks through the door.

Like Alice’s looking glass, the door seems not to lead to anywhere except, once, to the deserted dwelling adjacent to Coraline’s house. But as with all children, Coraline, despite “Harry Potter” Professor Trelawney-type tea leaves and warnings of “Don’t go through the door” from the mice, decides that anything’s better than watching her father pretend to write on the computer.

When Coraline crosses the threshold (a nod to The Hero's Journey), she discovers a house exactly like her own, but different, with a mother and father who eat bugs and make her the center of their world. Utopia, right? As we all know but forget, and as Coraline says, “I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really.” Sometimes we want the burnt and doughy pizza pie and the comfort of parents telling us what to do.

The trouble is, Coraline’s new mother and father have stolen her real parents. Unless Coraline can outwit the powerful mother-villain, Coraline will end up living in the creepy world forever. With the help of a cat that displays an appropriately catlike sensibility, Coraline must find and rescue her parents.

Masterful Gaiman creates a wonderfully whimsical, suspenseful, emotionally rich fairy-horror story for all ages.