Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are a pair of retired actresses who live in the flat under Coraline's. They own many aging Scotties and talk in theater jargon, often referencing their glory days as actresses. In the Other World, they are youthful and perform continuously in front of many different dogs, who, in the Other World, are anthropomorphic. Her other mother loves her. Wants her to stay. Stay forever. There's only one thing Coraline has to do, and her other mother promises it won't hurt at all... 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. Mr. Gaiman, you've done it to me again. I'm basking in a puddle of pure joy, right here, right now!

One especially dull and rainy day traps young Coraline inside the new house. Her parents are busy and she must entertain herself. She finds a little door in the drawing room and a little key that fits in. It’s been ages since I last saw the movie but I loved it. I waited a long time to read the book so I can forget the events of the movie (and I did) but my mistake was listening to the audiobook. Not that Neil’s narration wasn’t great (I loved it and also enjoyed the music effects) but my mind refuses to focus on anything fantasy or even mystery sometimes. I don’t sit still and listen to audiobooks, you see. I repeated lots of passages because my mind drifted off… eventually decided to read it (and glad I did). I have no idea why I wanted to listen to the audiobook, anyway. I guess it was available in my library? It’s such a short book that I could’ve finished easily in one sitting.

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” Also, you will probably be shaking your head frequently and wondering why adults are so goshdarn useless in children's literature. Oot pauses for a moment then, and I realize that this has been the point of the whole conversation. He wants to send Neil Gaiman a message. I am already looking forward to reading Coraline again. So far, I have read three works by Neil Gaiman, and they have all been stellar. Is it possible for him to write any bad books? I guess I will have to find out.

My most recent experience of the book was listening to it with my little boy on a long car ride. I wasn't sure he'd be able to get into it. Not because of the vocabulary. He's very sharp for being 4.5. He's good with words. But sometimes he gets a little scared.

About the contributors

Her voice did not just come from her mouth. It came from the mist, and the fog, and the house, and the sky.” Read by the author - woohoo! As much as I grumble about some of his books, there's no denying that he's absolutely fabulous to listen to - this man could read a grocery list and I'd give it a listen.