Coraline by Neil Gaiman book review

a scary kids book

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

| writing through life one step at a time | 

Hello lovelies! Welcome to the blog! I am so excited to have you here!

Today I’m sharing my little review of Coraline by Neil Gaiman. A writer friend recommended me this book as a good scary middle grade book. It had all the elements of a spooky kids story and I think many readers will like this book.

What Is The Book About?   

The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring....

In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. 

The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. 

Only it's different. 

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. 

Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself. 

The Review 

Rating: ★★★

Cleanness: ★★★

Age: middle grade

This was the fastest I’ve read a book in a long time. Once I started I couldn’t put the book down and read it all in a day. This was quite an interesting and creepy read (just as spooky books should be). The story had many twists and turns and left you wondering what would happen next. If I could sum it up in a few quick words it would be: unnerving, surprising, spooky, and interesting. 

I listened to the full cast audiobook which was so well done. The voice actors were amazing and it felt like watching a story. 

Content: this is a scary/spooky kids story (with some supernatural elements) and is quite dark in places. A girl goes through a door to the other place (like a dark mirror of the real world) where everything is too sweet and dark. The other people have button eyes and want to sew them onto the girl. There are lost souls of children. The other people can split open and are sort of like clay that can be deformed. Other such creepy things. 

Good for middle graders who like creepy/scary stories. Probably not for more sensitive readers or kids who are prone to having nightmares. 

Thank You For Reading   

Thank you for being here and for being a part of my life! I hope you are all having a wonderful rest of your day! I’ll see you in the next one!

Love, Moriyah