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1 Beaverton Children's- Science Fiction and Fantasy

Coraline

by Neil Gaiman

Coraline Cover

 

Awards

2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella
2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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 wits and courage if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.

Review:

"[M]agnificently creepy....[S]ome deliciously eerie descriptive writing. Not for the faint-hearted — who are mostly adults anyway — but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Review:

"[A]n electrifyingly creepy tale likely to haunt young readers for many moons....Gaiman twines his taught tale with a menacing tone and crisp prose fraught with memorable imagery..." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Review:

"Not since Narnia has the simple act of opening a door unlocked such a fantastic journey. And not since Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole has that journey been so splendidly strange and frightening." USA Today

Review:

"Inventive, scary, thrilling, and finally affirmative. Readers young and old will find something to startle them." Washington Post Book World

Review:

"So wonderfully whimsical that readers of all ages will hungrily devour it, word by word....Coraline is destined to become a classic." Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Review:

"By turns creepy and funny, bittersweet and playful...can be read quickly and enjoyed deeply." San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

Review:

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

Review:

"As we used to say, it blew my mind...chilly, finely-wrought prose, a truly weird setting and a fable that taps into our most uncomfortable fears." Times Educational Supplement

Review:

"Coraline may be Gaiman?s most disciplined and fully controlled novel to date, and it may even end up as something of a classic." Locus

Review:

"The story is odd, strange, even slightly bizarre, but kids will hang on every word. Coraline is a character with whom they will surely identify, and they will love being frightened out of their shoes." School Library Journal

Review:

"This story provides a good edge-of-your-seat read without being terribly frightening. For those children who like to be scared, Gaiman's novel is a well-written alternative to Goosebumps." Joan Kindig, Children's Literature

Review:

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

Review:

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, rise to your feet and applaud: Coraline is the real thing." Philip Pullman, The Guardian (U.K.)

Review:

"This book will send a shiver down your spine, out through your toes, and into a taxi to the airport. It has the delicate horror of the finest fairy tales, and it is a masterpiece." Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series and co-author of Good Omens

Review:

"I think this book will nudge Alice in Wonderland out of its niche at last. It is the most splendidly original, weird, and frightening book I have read, and yet full of things children will love." Diana Wynne Jones, author of Dark Lord of Derkholm

Review:

"This book tells a fascinating and disturbing story that frightened me nearly to death. Unless you want to find yourself hiding under your bed, with your thumb in your mouth, trembling with fear and making terrible noises, I suggest that you step very slowly away from this book and go find another source of amusement, such as investigating an unsolved crime or making a small animal out of yarn." Lemony Snicket, author of The Series of Unfortunate Events
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About the Author

Neil Gaiman is the critically acclaimed and award-winning creator of the Sandman series of graphic novels, author of the novels Anansi Boys, American Gods, Coraline, Stardust,and Neverwhere, the short-fiction collection Smoke and Mirrors, and the bestselling children's books The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfishand The Wolves in the Walls(both illustrated by Dave McKean). Originally from England, Gaiman now lives in the United States.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
bookloverxxv, December 19, 2010 (view all comments by bookloverxxv)
Way cool. This is my favorite Gaiman. It's "Alice Through the Looking Glass" with a nasty twist. Lewis Carroll, eat your heart out...
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Shoshana, December 21, 2007 (view all comments by Shoshana)
This is a cute enough horror/fairy tale, but I'm mystified by the awards it's received. Gaiman's setting is his usual "not here but not quite anywhere else" intersticial world whose distorted and malevolent denizens wish the protagonist no good. Like all hero's journeys, Coraline's includes guides and magical appurtenances (the latter lending a somewhat deus ex machina feel to the proceedings, but hey, it's a fairy tale). The description of the evil characters as having literal button eyes was jarring and took me out of the narrative repeatedly; they belong in a different story. True to his usual concerns, Gaiman gives us an inadequate, cool mother (it's asserted that she's emotionally attractive, but she comes off much less so than the father) and a frightening alter-mother, though it is refreshing to read something from him that is not about a sympathetic male protagonist with an unpleasant, inaccessible female love interest.
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pebbeb, February 6, 2007 (view all comments by pebbeb)
This book was my introduction to the writings of Neil Gaiman and I'm very glad to have found this book. Coraline is one of the most imaginative stories and belongs in the canon of great children's literature. It is filled with twists, nightmarish images, moments of stunning beauty and of dark surprises. This was one of those books that pulled me in and did not let me go. Like other great books, I hated for this one to end.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780380807345
Illustrations by:
McKean, Dave
Publisher:
HarperCollins
Illustrator:
McKean, Dave
Author:
by Neil Gaiman
Author:
Gaiman, Neil
Author:
McKean, Dave
Location:
New York
Subject:
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
Subject:
Horror & Ghost Stories
Subject:
Supernatural
Subject:
Horror stories
Subject:
Children's 9-12 - Fiction - Horror
Subject:
Children s All Ages - Fiction - Science Fiction
Subject:
General Juvenile Fiction
Subject:
Fantasy & Magic
Subject:
Children s-Scary Stories
Copyright:
2003
Edition Number:
1st paperback ed.
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
HarperClassics
Series Volume:
374 (rev.)
Publication Date:
August 5, 2003
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
from 3
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
192
Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1.13 in 18.16 oz
Age Level:
08-UP
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Related Aisles

Coraline Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$4.50 In Stock
Product details 192 pages HarperTrophy - English 9780380807345 Reviews:
"Review" by , "[M]agnificently creepy....[S]ome deliciously eerie descriptive writing. Not for the faint-hearted — who are mostly adults anyway — but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on."
"Review" by , "[A]n electrifyingly creepy tale likely to haunt young readers for many moons....Gaiman twines his taught tale with a menacing tone and crisp prose fraught with memorable imagery..."
"Review" by , "Not since Narnia has the simple act of opening a door unlocked such a fantastic journey. And not since Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole has that journey been so splendidly strange and frightening."
"Review" by , "Inventive, scary, thrilling, and finally affirmative. Readers young and old will find something to startle them."
"Review" by , "So wonderfully whimsical that readers of all ages will hungrily devour it, word by word....Coraline is destined to become a classic."
"Review" by , "By turns creepy and funny, bittersweet and playful...can be read quickly and enjoyed deeply."
"Review" by , "A modern ghost story with all the creepy trimmings....Well done."
"Review" by , "As we used to say, it blew my mind...chilly, finely-wrought prose, a truly weird setting and a fable that taps into our most uncomfortable fears."
"Review" by , "Coraline may be Gaiman?s most disciplined and fully controlled novel to date, and it may even end up as something of a classic."
"Review" by , "The story is odd, strange, even slightly bizarre, but kids will hang on every word. Coraline is a character with whom they will surely identify, and they will love being frightened out of their shoes."
"Review" by , "This story provides a good edge-of-your-seat read without being terribly frightening. For those children who like to be scared, Gaiman's novel is a well-written alternative to Goosebumps."
"Review" by , "Beautifully spooky. Gaiman actually seems to understand the way children think."
"Review" by , "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, rise to your feet and applaud: Coraline is the real thing."
"Review" by , "This book will send a shiver down your spine, out through your toes, and into a taxi to the airport. It has the delicate horror of the finest fairy tales, and it is a masterpiece."
"Review" by , "I think this book will nudge Alice in Wonderland out of its niche at last. It is the most splendidly original, weird, and frightening book I have read, and yet full of things children will love."
"Review" by , "This book tells a fascinating and disturbing story that frightened me nearly to death. Unless you want to find yourself hiding under your bed, with your thumb in your mouth, trembling with fear and making terrible noises, I suggest that you step very slowly away from this book and go find another source of amusement, such as investigating an unsolved crime or making a small animal out of yarn."
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