The nuances of the book add to the effect of the story. The front cover illustrates one of the scenes of the novel where Coraline walks through the hallway to the other mother and father’s house. She is holding her candle on a stand that appears to be used for decoration on tables or mantles in a house. The title is colored in bright red in a font that looks thick in the lettering yet proper. The background color is a dark brown color that is shiny. Part of the background though is not shiny, illustrating a cut out of someone trying to sew something as a hand is holding a needle and thread. There is also a part that illustrates a rat at the bottom on the page. The back cover of the novel is a midnight black color with two quotes from prestigious critics. There is also an illustration of what Coraline’s house that looks dark and mysterious, giving the feeling of darkness as the story does as well. The font of the story in the book is very simple and the page numbers at the bottom of the pages gives the story an old, mysterious feeling. There were a couple of black and white illustrations throughout each chapter that had a scratchy appearance and the images were very pointed. Kiefer and Tyson (2014) say this “Illustrations comprised of shapes with sharp edges and corners…have an edginess that can show the viewer the brittle bleakness of a winter setting.” (p. 67) The illustrations do a great job of giving the reader an idea of the level of thrill and horror Gaiman presents in the story. The simplicity and brittleness of the pictures though add to the ominous feeling of the story, tying the story and the illustrations together.

 

Coraline brings a whole new perspective to children’s literature. This novel introduces multiple genres including horror, thriller, fantasy, and adventure. I see this idea of including multiple genres as a great concept because it exposes a child to so many different combinations. It allows the imagination to soar and gives the child excitement while reading the novel. Gaiman uses extraordinary world fantasy in Coraline illustrating when Coraline discovers the other world through the door she finds in her apartment. In Charlotte Huck’s Children’s Literature: A Brief Guide (2014), extraordinary world fantasy is defined as “Often starting in the world of reality, they move quickly into a world where the everyday becomes extraordinary, yet still believable.” (Kiefer, Tyson, p. 139) Clearly describing the story line of Coraline, adventure fiction coincides with the extraordinary world fantasy genre. Adventure fiction is a genre of fiction in which an adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, forms the main storyline.  An anonymous critic, doubling as a parent, says this about Coraline (2010) “Before the film came out, on my little girl's 5th birthday, we read the book together. I had actually bought the book when I was dating my wife. Children do not see it as scary as adults see it. In fact, they see it as a wonderful adventure, where it gives some adults nightmares. I think the quote at the beginning of the book, describes it the best; "It's not that we teach children that dragons are real, but we teach them dragons can be defeated." I love what this critic said about the age because after reading this novel, I was skeptical about the “ages 8 and up” on the back on the book. I have a younger brother who at this point in time is nine years old. I truly didn’t know if he would enjoy the book because I was afraid he would get too scared. Having also seen the movie, I was picturing more scenes from the movie as I was reading the book than what kids might actually see the scenes as in their heads. Therefore, I can’t make the decision for my brother whether he would like it or not because he might have a completely different picture in his mind of what the illustrations look like than I do.

 

After stepping back from this book, I realized how adults could view Coraline as creepy and scary. Children don’t tend to view these such things as scary because they haven’t been exposed to certain events and material as adults have.  For example, this quote from the novel could be viewed differently from childhood to adulthood “’If you want to stay,’ said her other father, ‘there’s only one little thing we’ll have to do, so you can stay here forever and always.’ They went into the kitchen. On a china plate on the kitchen table was a spool of black cotton, and a long silver needle, and beside them, two large black buttons.” (Gaiman, 2012, p. 43) As an adult, I can already foreshadow what could likely happen next and what this quote means. I can sense the horror and anxiety I would also feel if I were in this situation in the book. Yet as a child, they wouldn’t infer that the other mother and father wanted to kidnap Coraline and take her eyes out to replace them with large black buttons. A child would view this situation more as the mother and the father giving Coraline a ‘gift’, attempting to persuade Coraline in staying with what is perceived as the better mother and father for a portion of the novel.

           

The author, Neil Gaiman, grew up in England with a ‘profound love for reading.’ (Famousauthors.com, 2012) Reflecting in his work to this day, Gaiman’s favorite childhood books included J. R. R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings and C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. Neil portrays the adventure he read during his childhood in his novels now, giving children today an experience that he greatly enjoyed. With Coraline, I see this aspect of adventure extremely important. Some children don’t have the opportunities to go out and explore as Coraline does in the novel. Therefore by reading the book, their imagination combines with adventure giving the child a sense of thrill and excitement without actually going out and doing what she is doing.

           

This children’s novel was written for multiple purposes. One review by Philip Pullman from ‘The Guardian’ states (2002) “But the dangers are real, and part of the richness of the story comes from the fact that it offers many meanings without imposing any.” I believe an important purpose this novel serves children as is that it shows how much we as humans take things for granted. During one part in the novel, Coraline is without her real parents as her other parents have taken them and hid them from her. This is shown in this quote from the novel “All alone, in the middle of the night, Coraline began to cry. There was no other sound in the empty flat. She climbed into her parents’ bed, and, after a while, she went to sleep.” (Gaiman, 2012, p. 50) Coraline doesn’t realize what she had until she lost it. She becomes distraught and doesn’t know what to do. This communicates to children that sometimes they may not agree with their parents on what they tell them to do, but they need to appreciate when then have them. There may be a day when you don’t have your parents to tell you what to do when you want them to. We, not only as children, but as adults need to appreciate the authority we have in our lives. It allows us to learn from mistakes we make and grow as human beings.

           

A strong theme that shows to be important in Coraline is the idea of being brave and courageous in scary and uncomfortable situations. Kids can sometimes struggle with this in their own lives when going through situations that make them feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. For example, when I was younger, about 9 or 10 years old, there was a dog in my neighborhood that my siblings and I called ‘the black and white dog.’ Whenever we would walk by the house that the dog lived at, we would always get scared because he had chased after us multiple times. With the fear we had of ‘the black and white dog’ attacking us, we would have to muster up the bravery and courage to walk by the house and try as hard as we could to not be scared. Coraline goes through multiple instances in the story where she has to do the same thing. This is show in this quote from the book “’It wasn’t brave because he wasn’t scared: it was the only thing he could do. But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave.”… “And why was that?’ asked the cat, although it sounded barely interested. ‘Because,’ she said, ‘when you’re scared but you still do it anyway, that’s brave.’” (Gaiman, 2012, p. 57) This quote from the book displays so much meaning, giving a child reading this book encouragement and hope that they can conquer their fear and be brave too.

           

It is so important for children to sense these purposes that the novel Coraline portrays throughout the novel. Appreciating your parents and being brave and courageous are great life lessons children at the age recommended by the author should hear. In a quote from Huck’s Children’s Literature: A Brief Guide, she says this “Good writing can transport readers to other places and other times and expand their life space. Readers feel connected to the lives of others as they enter an imagined situation with their emotions tuned to those of the story.” (Kiefer, Tyson, p. 7) If children can connect with the characters from the story, they can feel what they feel and understand how the situation effects that character in the story better. They can take away how the character acts in the story and apply it to their own lives. Yes, Coraline may be a scary book and for some children, may need to wait a couple more years before they read it. But, Coraline serves many purposes as it encourages kids to be brave in times of trouble. Listening to and respecting your parents serves a greater purpose as well because it allows children to make the decision to grow and become better in areas where improvement is needed.

           

To conclude, Coraline is an intense and scary novel but has a lot of meaning behind the story and what the main character, Coraline, goes through. It is important to consider all areas of a novel before jumping to conclusions on whether or not a novel as such would be appropriate for a student. Being open to suggestions and flexibility when it comes to novels like this one is also crucial and as parents it is also important to be open to new encounters for your son or daughter to experience new and exciting things that could help them grow not only as a student but also an individual.