Coraline (book review)

Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, is certainly a special book. But my copy is even more special than most--it was signed by the author! Jean stood four hours in the pouring rain to get this book signed for me! You can read the story here. P.S.--I've read this story before, but I HAD to read it again after Jean did this for me!

Anyway, Coraline is the story of a young girl who is bored with the world around her. She has explored every inch of her flat and the surrounding area...or so she thinks. Then, on a rainy day, she finds an old, locked door. When her mother opens it with a strange black key, Coraline and her mother find that it leads to nothing. But one day, when her parents are out, Coraline steals the key and unlocks the door herself. The bricks are gone. Instead there is a dark, musty hallway that leads to a flat that seems similar to hers...until she sees the copies of her parents who inhabit the place. They are tall and pale, with buttons where their eyes should be. They embrace Coraline as their own daughter, and offer her anything she wants. But Coraline soon finds out that this world isn't perfect...the other parents want to sew buttons into her eyes, too!

After this disturbing discovery, Coraline hurries back to her own world, only to find that her parents have disappeared. The police don't believe her story about the world beyond the door, and Coraline finds herself on her own...except for a strange companion, a talking black cat. She doesn't know where her parents are, but she has a hunch. Perhaps the other parents stole her real parents to lure her back. Coraline has no choice but to return to the other flat. When she arrives there, things have changed a great deal. Coraline can now see the "people" who she used to think bore even a slight resemblance to her neighbors and parents, and they are horrible gruesome, maimed creatures who aren't so friendly to her now that she knows their true nature. And the ghosts of three dead children soon warn her that the other mother will suck her soul out if she doesn't hurry and find her parents. Moved by their speech, Coraline sets out on a quest not only to find her parents, but also to find the children's souls. The search for the souls is dangerous enough, but it all leads up to the final question...can Coraline find her parents and destroy the other mother's evil for good?