|
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 |
Buy
it at Amazon |
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. |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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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.
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