Read this when
Coraline
'Because when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave.' 🗝️ Coraline says no to the perfect mom who wanted to keep her forever.
Who it's for
Coraline starts where many readers are: bored, lonely and ignored by distracted parents.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Neil Gaiman's 2002 novella, illustrated by Dave McKean, follows Coraline Jones, who moves with her parents into an old house divided into flats. Behind a bricked-up door she finds a passage to an alternate world, where button-eyed doubles, her Other Mother and Other Father, seem more attentive than her real parents. The Other Mother invites her to stay for good if she lets buttons be sewn over her eyes.
Where to find it
In print (HarperCollins) and at libraries, including Libby/Hoopla; audiobook read by Neil Gaiman. A graphic-novel adaptation by P. Craig Russell is available.
Before you start
Heads up: Horror imagery and trapped dead children.
Age: Ages 9+
I have not broken your heart—you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
