A Good Book

I think a good book is one that draws you in so much that you can’t put it down; you want to keep reading to find out what happens. Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, fits this qualification. At first, I thought the book was kind of boring. It was slightly confusing, but everything was explained as the story unfolded. In the book, Coraline gets bored one day and explores the new flat her family has moved into. She finds a locked door in a room she’s not supposed to be in. She gets the key and enters an alternate universe through the door. She finds that this other world looks almost exactly like her own world, except that in this world her “other” mother gives her everything she could ever want. This magical world offers her new worlds to explore that constantly change and a room with toys that are interactive. Everything seems wonderful on the outside, but then her other mother puts her in “time out” in a dark closet and Coraline discovers her nasty secret. Her seemingly wonderful other mother had hidden her real parents and had plans to keep Coraline in this alternate world forever and eventually suck out her soul. Coraline made a plan to trick the other mother into letting her go and giving her parents back. Once Coraline is safely home, she realizes that she is happy with her life just the way it is and she didn’t like always getting what she wanted.

This book has a moral, but doesn’t actually say “the moral of this story is…” It reveals the moral as part of the story and therefore raises awareness but doesn’t make the book feel like it’s “teaching” you. The book is also very original. It allows kids to use their imaginations and form a picture of this other world in their minds. Coraline sucked me in without my even realizing it. One day I was just reading it, then all of a sudden I couldn’t put it down! I just had to know what was going to happen to this little girl.