Children's book: Coraline

Overview
"Coraline" follows the adventures of Coraline Jones, a curious and brave girl who moves with her distracted parents into an old, creaky house divided into flats. Bored and exploring her new surroundings, Coraline finds a small, hidden door that opens onto a bricked-up wall, until one night it leads to an alternate version of her home. There she meets the "Other Mother" and the "Other Father", mirror images who seem to offer a warmer, more attentive life, but with distinct and unsettling differences: they have button eyes and a fixation on keeping Coraline in their world.
At first the Other World feels like an irresistible upgrade, full of delicious food, enchanting rooms, and exaggerated devotion. The sweetness quickly curdles into threat when the Other Mother reveals her true desire: to sew buttons over Coraline's eyes and trap her forever. When Coraline's real parents are taken and hidden in the Other World, she refuses to be a passive victim. Using quick thinking, courage, and unlikely allies, Coraline must confront fearsome illusions, outwit the Other Mother, and rescue her parents and the lost souls of other children.

Main Characters
Coraline is a pragmatic, adventurous heroine whose resilience and resourcefulness define the story. She is small but fiercely determined, and her willingness to confront danger rather than flee is central to her growth. The Other Mother, alternately alluring and terrifying, embodies a seductive cruelty: she promises care and perfection at the price of autonomy and identity.
Supporting figures include a stoic, talking black cat who can appear and disappear between worlds and serves as a guide; the eccentric neighbors who contribute bits of lore and courage; and the ghost children whose tragic fates reveal the stakes of Coraline's mission. These characters create a textured cast that amplifies the novel's balance of whimsy and menace.

Themes and Motifs
"Coraline" explores the tension between wish fulfillment and authenticity. The Other World tempts Coraline with idealized comforts, but those comforts come at the cost of becoming someone else. The story interrogates what safety and attention mean: genuine love requires freedom and imperfection, while manufactured perfection can be a form of imprisonment.
Courage and agency are celebrated throughout. Coraline's bravery is not the absence of fear but the capacity to act despite it; she formulates plans, negotiates with dangerous forces, and accepts responsibility for others. The motif of eyes, especially the button eyes, symbolizes vision, perception, and the ability to see truth versus illusion, making the act of keeping one's sight a moral and literal battleground.

Style and Tone
The prose marries a classic fairy-tale cadence with modern, spare language, creating a narrative that is accessible to children while resonating with adult readers. The tone shifts fluidly from the banalities of daily life to uncanny dread, and humor often punctures tension, keeping the story from tipping into unrelieved horror. Vivid sensory details render the Other World at once alluring and grotesque, heightening the moral choices Coraline faces.
Neil Gaiman employs subtle but effective world-building rather than exhaustive exposition. The result is a compact, atmospheric tale that feels timeless, as if it could be whispered at bedtime or read aloud in a public library with equal effect.

Reception and Influence
"Coraline" has been praised for its originality and emotional clarity, earning awards and a lasting place in contemporary children's literature. It sparked a widely acclaimed film adaptation and inspired stage productions, comic interpretations, and a renewed interest in fairy-tale retellings that blend darkness with whimsy. The novel's influence endures in its affirmation of a child's capacity to confront complex moral challenges and in its depiction of bravery as an everyday, active choice rather than a heroic exception.