Coraline
Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old  house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former  actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers ("We  trod the boards, luvvy") and the mustachioed old man under the roof ("'The  reason you cannot see the mouse circus,' said the man upstairs, 'is that the  mice are not yet ready and rehearsed.'") Coraline contents herself for weeks  with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes  bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows  (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a  wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now,  if you're thinking fondly ofThe Lion, the Witch, and the WardrobeorAlice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil  Gaiman'sCoralineis far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest  fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious.What's on the other side of the door? A distorted-mirror world, containing  presumably everything Coraline has ever dreamed of... people who pronounce her  name correctly (not "Caroline"), delicious meals (not like her father's  overblown "recipes"), an unusually pink and green bedroom (not like her dull  one), and plenty of horrible (very un-boring) marvels, like a man made out of  live rats. The creepiest part, however, is her mirrored parents, her "other  mother" and her "other father"--people who look just like her own parents, but  with big, shiny, black button eyes, paper-white skin... and a keen desire to  keep her ontheirside of the door. To make creepy creepier,Coralinehas been illustrated masterfully in scritchy, terrifying ink  drawings by British mixed-media artist and Sandman cover illustrator Dave  McKean. This delightful, funny, haunting, scary as heck, fairy-tale novel is  about as fine as they come. Highly recommended. (Ages 11 and older)--Karin  Snelson--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.