Coraline Paperback – 24 April 2012

I am a bit of a sucker for stationery; I have a tendency to buy lots of notebooks, and then never get around to using them, so imagine my delight when I saw that they had created a notebook with a Coraline theme (I am a massive Neil Gaiman fan). As soon as I saw this, I bought it. I am a little biased, but this is a gorgeous notebook/ journal. It is beautifully created, featuring a vibrant purple colour. The front cover has a key decoration, and the pages are lined.This is a really lovely product. Although I haven't quite decided what I am going to record in it yet, I am so glad that I found it.

I had seen the movie when I was 11 and it became one of my favourite movies as a kid, it’s saddens me it’s taken me this long to read the actual book.It’s an amazing read, with a sturdy story line. Twists and turns to keep you reading and wanting more.The character’s are strange, lovable and all so different from one another.I see myself in coraline, I find she is not your average little girl or character.

I have just finished reading 'Coraline' and had to get online to do a review having purchased my copy through Amazon.com. The versatile and very talented Mr Gaiman combines horror and fairytale to bring about this enchanting story which children and adults alike will love. Beautifully illustrated by Dave McKean (who also collaborated with Gaiman on 'The Wolves in the Walls') this easy to read book leaves you wanting more. Coraline is a young girl if a little 'small for her age' who loves to explore and play games. One day she decides to explore the flat where she lives and ends up opening the door to an alternative world to her own. There she finds she has another mother and father who have been waiting for her and are desperate for her to stay with them on the other side of the door. ON the surface they seem very nice were it not for the fact that they have black buttons for eyes, eat black beetlebugs and don't really seem all that genuine. In Coraline's struggle to return to the real world and locate her real parents who have 'disappeared', she makes an unlikely alliance with a nameless cat and the spirits of three children.You might feel a little cheated having forked out your hard earned cash for a book which is only 184 pages, including an illustration in each new chapter, but it is well worth it.This is a far cry from Gaiman's other works such as the marvellous 'American Gods' and the Sandman illustrated books, which just goes to prove his ability to be flexible and versatile with his imagination and creative writing. Highly recommended for both adults and maturer children who won't end up with nightmares! Bravo.

Wow. My pleasant surprise for this book was barely contained after I gobbled it up in two (albeit very busy) days.I admit I am a huge fan of the film and have watched it numerous times. There is actually more added to the film as the book is only around two hundred pages, however this did not disappoint me in the least.Coraline is jam packed full of various themes, beautifully haunting imagery, and colourful characters. It also had a frightful scene including the Other Father that I will unashamedly say scared me witless.Gaimans prose is also luscious and beautiful. This is the first and only book of his that I have read so far (The Graveyard Book is sitting patiently on my shelf) and was one of my best reads of the year. He speaks directly to you in third person but not down to you; he tells you stuff but not in a preachy way at all, we learn it along with Coraline, who would be an adventurer's dream to explore with!Coraline is a modern gothic fairtale with a refreshingly active protagonist. A little warning this book (and its illustrations) may frighten the much younger ones. Five stars all the way.

My book great reading

This is one of those books that makes parenting easy(!!?). I'm not going to repeat the plot, but:1. It was entertaining for me, an adult(ish) who enjoys Gaiman's surreal and irreverent storytelling.2. My 7yo daughter begs me to read it to her at any moment during the day and ranks it as her new favourite book. Only today she told me she didn't want it to end, and I'm a little sad too because I just adore the look of wide-eyed tension in her face when a story grips her.If you think your kid is ready to be creeped out, just go for it. Superb.Now I have a problem. What do I pick next for her?

Parents mostly know their own child best and whether or not they are likely to have nightmares after reading a highly suggestible book such as this. My guess is that children are a lot more robust than anyone gives them credit for and just because I found this edging a little too close to the horror genre for my own tastes, I wouldn't hesitate to give it to anyone over eight.Coraline and her parents come to live in a large old house which has flats in it, plus one empty flat. In their flat there is a door that opens onto a brick wall, but one day Coraline is alone in the flat and unlocks the door only to find that there is a family in the flat - and it's hers. She soon realises that there are fundamental differences - for one thing the other mother and father have large black buttons for eyes.Strangely enough, these button eyes are the crucial detail I felt saved the book from being even more frightening and I think any child will recognise that the other family cannot be real. There may be another story to be written, perhaps for older children, where there is no such easy marker to tell the families apart.This one though, is plenty scary enough for the 9-12 market, or even a little younger. It is full of challenges, with a helpful cat and a mouse orchestra and ends with a brilliantly staged finale. Fabulous!