Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked door in the drawing room.

It
reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again later,
a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat decorated
exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her "other"
parents in this alternate world, they are much more interesting despite their
creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to
make her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real
parents and three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through
stone and an aloof cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping
these monstrous creatures.

Gaiman has delivered a wonderfully chilling novel, subtle yet intense on many
levels. The line between pleasant and horrible is often blurred until what's what
becomes suddenly clear, and like Coraline, we resist leaving this strange world
until we're hooked. Unnerving drawings also cast a dark shadow over the book's
eerie atmosphere, which is only heightened by simple, hair-raising
text. Coraline is otherworldly storytelling at its best.

How It All Goes Down

Our story starts out when a young lady named Coraline Jones moves
into an apartment in an old house with her parents. Her neighbors
include two elderly retired actresses and a strange man who lives
upstairs and trains mice for a circus act. Despite this weirdness,
Coraline is very bored. Her parents work a lot and they tend to just
ignore her.
One day, Coraline discovers a door with a brick wall behind it. Seems
kind of strange, right? But get this: when she opens the door later,
there's a hallway back there. Now that's strange. When Coraline goes
through the door, she ends up in an entirely different world: it's kind of
like her own, but something's a little off. In the other world, Coraline
has an other mother (the beldam), an other father, and other
neighbors. And bonus, cats can talk.
Coraline decides this other world is weird (we agree) and so she
heads back home. But when she arrives, her parents are missing: the
beldam has kidnapped them, and Coraline will have to go back into
the creepy other world to rescue them. Fast forward a bit: and, spoiler
alert, she succeeds! She gets her parents back and, in the meantime,
also rescues the trapped souls of three kidnapped children who have
been stuck in the other world for a long time. Coraline beats the evil
beldam, saves the day, and returns home.
But wait: it's not quite over. It turns out the other mother's hand has
followed Coraline home (it's like Thing on the Addams Family!).
Coraline plays one last trick to trap the other mother's hand in a deep
well. Phew, finally the scariness is over. After all this excitement,
Coraline is ready to start the school year; and boy, is school going to
seem really tame by comparison.

Coraline Themes

Courage
Coraline is up there with the most courageous kids of all time. As she
explains, what really makes you brave is doing something even when
you're scared. This is the sort of courage Harry Potter had...

Family
Coraline's parents are really busy and tend to ignore her; she's often
left alone to entertain herself and even take care of herself. That
doesn't sound like the best family set-up. But then Corali...
Fear
Coraline is definitely a scary book, there's no question about it. The
stuff Coraline goes through to rescue the ghost children and her
parents gives us nightmares. Coraline herself gets scared –...

Versions of Reality
The other world in Coraline is a strange version of that reality that
Coraline knows well. It has the same people, the same house, and
the same garden; but something's just not quite right. This wo...

The Home
At the beginning of Coraline, our heroine is bored at home: her
parents are too busy for her, the place she lives is dull, and she has
exhausted all the exploring there is to do. It takes being in...

Identity
When you're totally on your own – like Coraline is – you need to have
a super strong sense of self to get you through things. In Coraline, our
heroine doesn't have friends or family to rely on,...

Dissatisfaction
Boredom and dissatisfaction are great ways to start off a story.
Seriously. Dissatisfaction often leads people to look for something to
do, and that something often gets them into serious trouble....
Choices
Choices are really important in Coraline. After all, Coraline makes
some pretty big decisions in the story, and a lot of small ones, too
(like what to have for dinner!). Her first, and most importa...

Meet the Cast

Coraline Jones
It's hard to think about Coraline without comparing her to other
famous young heroines like Lucy, Alice, Meg, or even Hermione.
Coraline is a classic heroine in many ways – she's a little girl wh...

The Other Mother (The Beldam)

The other mother, also known as the beldam (which means witch), is
the book's super creepy villain. From the very beginning, it's clear to
both Coraline and the readers that there's something very,...

Mr. Jones
Coraline's dad seems to be an okay dude. He tries his best to
entertain his daughter (and to cook her dinner), but because he works
from home, he doesn't have a lot of of time to play with her:He h...
Mrs. Jones
Coraline's mom is a tricky character. We don't know much about her
(including her name), which reminds us a little of the other mother. But
that's where the comparisons to the other mother end. All...

Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (April Spink and Miriam Forcible)
We're discussing these two characters together since they are sort of
a package deal. In fact, it's sometimes hard to tell them apart. They
live together (with their dogs), and they both enjoy tell...

The Ghost Children

The ghost children have been trapped by the other mother for a very
long time. So long, in fact, that they dress and speak in an old-
fashioned way. But what purpose do the children serve in the sto...

The Black Cat

The Black Cat is kind of a snot. There, we said it. We love him, but he
really does have an attitude problem."We could be friends, you know,"
said Coraline."We could be a rare specimen of an exotic...

The Other Father

Coraline's other father is more pathetic than scary. We almost feel
sorry for him, actually, because he seems like he's totally under the
other mother's control."Really I mustn't talk to you when s...
The Other Miss Spink and The Other Miss Forcible
The beldam gets a lot of things wrong in her other world, but she
seems to hit upon something important in the alternate versions of
Miss Spink and Miss Forcible.They were thin, and pale, and quite...

Mr. Bobo (The Man Upstairs)

We only learn Mr. Bobo's name in the very last pages of the novel.
And what a name it is – totally fitting for a guy who runs a mouse
circus. It's also only at the end that Coraline learns any co...

Other Mr. Bobo

In the other world, Mr. Bobo is really scary. Maybe because he isn't
really even a person:Coraline took a step closer to the man, and he
fell apart. Black rats leapt from the sleeves and from under...

The Police Officer

When Coraline calls the police to report that her parents are missing,
the officer who answers thinks that she's just a crazy kid who woke up
from a nightmare. The cop doesn't help much, but he doe...
Story[edit]
Coraline Jones and her parents move into an old house that has been divided
into flats. The other tenants include Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two elderly
women retired from the stage, and Mr. Bobo, initially referred to as "the crazy old
man upstairs", who claims to be training a mouse circus. The flat beside
Coraline's is unoccupied.
One rainy day Coraline discovers a locked door in the formal living room. She
begs her mother to unlock the door, which at one point led to the apartment next
door, and they discover that it has been bricked up. Coraline goes to visit her
new neighbors and Mr. Bobo relays to her a message from his mice: "Don't go
through the door". Coraline has tea with Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, and Miss
Spink spies danger in Coraline’s future after reading her tea leaves. She then
gives her a lucky stone with a hole in the middle. The ladies explain that the
stone is supposed to be "good for bad things". She says it will help her in the
future.
Despite these warnings, Coraline decides to unlock the door when she is home
by herself. This time, she finds the brick wall behind the door is gone. In its place
is a long hallway that leads to a flat identical to her own but inhabited by the
"Other Mother" and "Other Father". They seem to look like her parents, except
that in place of eyes, they have shiny black buttons. The Other Mother, however,
is notably taller and thinner than her real mother. Her black hair seems to move
by itself, her skin is paper-white, and her nails are long and red. In this “Other
World”, Coraline finds everything to be more interesting than in her world: the
Other Mother cooks food that she actually enjoys, both of her Other Parents pay
more attention to her, her toy box is filled with animate toys that can move and
fly, the Other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible perform a never-ending act in their
flat, and the Other Mr. Bobo performs a rat circus. She even finds that the feral
black cat that wanders around the house in the real world can talk. The cat
identifies itself as the same cat that lives in the real world, and possesses the
ability to travel through the gaps between the two worlds. Although intentionally
rude and unhelpful for the greater part of the conversation, it briefly praises her
for bringing "protection", then vanishes.
After Coraline returns to the copy of her flat, the Other Mother offers Coraline the
opportunity to stay in the Other World forever, but in order to do so, Coraline
must allow buttons to be sewn into her eyes. Coraline is horrified and returns
through the door to her home. Upon her return to her apartment, Coraline finds
that her real parents are missing. They do not return the next day, and the black
cat wakes her and takes her to a mirror in her hallway, through which she can
see her trapped parents. They signal to her by writing "Help Us" on the glass,
from which Coraline deduces the Other Mother has kidnapped them. Though
frightened of returning, Coraline goes back to the Other World to confront the
Other Mother and rescue her parents. In the garden, Coraline is prompted by the
cat to challenge the Other Mother, as “her kind of thing loves games and
challenges”. The Other Mother tries to convince Coraline to stay, but Coraline
refuses, and is locked within a small space behind a mirror as punishment.
In the small dark closet space, she meets three ghost children. Each had in the
past let the Other Mother, who they archaically refer to as the "beldam"; sew
buttons over their eyes. They tell Coraline how the Other Mother eventually grew
bored with them, and eventually they died and she cast their spirits aside, but
they are trapped there because she has kept their souls. If their souls can be
rescued from the Other Mother, then the ghosts can pass on. The ghost children
implore Coraline to escape and avoid their fate.
After the Other Mother releases Coraline from the mirror, Coraline proposes a
game: if she can find the ghost children's souls and her parents, then she, her
parents, and the ghost children may go free. If she loses, then Coraline will let
the Other Mother sew the buttons into her eyes and become a loving daughter to
her.
Coraline searches through the Other World and overcomes the Other Mother's
obstacles by using her wits and Miss Spink's lucky stone to find the marble-like
souls of the ghost children and deduces that her parents are imprisoned in
a snow globe on the mantelpiece. The ghost children warn her that even if
Coraline wins, the Other Mother will not let them go, so Coraline tricks the Other
Mother by announcing that she knows where her parents are hidden: in the
passageway between the worlds. The Other Mother cannot resist gloating by
opening the door to show Coraline that her parents are not there. When the
Other Mother opens the door Coraline throws the cat at the Other Mother, grabs
the snow globe, and escapes to the real world with the key, and the Cat quickly
follows. While escaping, Coraline forces the door shut on the Other Mother's
hand. Back in her home, Coraline falls asleep on a chair. She is awoken by her
parents who have no memory of the events.
That night, Coraline has a dream in which she meets the three children at a
picnic. The children are dressed in clothes from different periods and one seems
to have wings. They warn her that her task is still not done: the Other Mother
hates her and will try to get the key back to open the door between the worlds.
Coraline realizes that the Other Mother's severed hand is after her and devises a
plan to catch it. She goes to the old well in the woods to dispose of the key. She
pretends to have a picnic, with the picnic blanket laid over the entrance to the
well. The Other Mother's severed hand attempts to seize the key, but steps on
the blanket and falls into the well. Coraline returns back to the house, greeting
her neighbours (who finally get her name right), and getting ready for her new
school tomorrow.

Characters[edit]
 Coraline Jones – The young explorer. She is curious, intelligent, resourceful,
and courageous. Coraline is often irritated by rain, crazy grown-ups (as they
all seem to be), and not being taken seriously because of her young age.
She's described as being "small for her age," but Coraline is not afraid to face
anyone; she is the most adventurous person in the book.
 Mrs. Jones – Coraline's mother. She is very busy most of the time, and
sometimes a little inattentive, but she loves and cares about Coraline. She is
nice, and helpful, though Coraline considers her to be rather boring. Coraline
also gets annoyed with her real mother because she doesn't seem to want to
let Coraline "fit in".
 Mr. Jones – Coraline's father. He works at his house on the computer. He
cares about Coraline very much and is kind, brave, and helpful. He makes
interesting food creations that Coraline strongly dislikes. He, too, is usually
too busy to spend time with Coraline.
 The Cat- A black cat from Coraline's world. The cat acts as a mentor to
Coraline and guides her through her journey. It claims to have no name,
explaining that cats do not need names to tell each other apart. Unlike many
of the characters in the novel, it does not have an "Other World" counterpart,
saying that unlike other creatures in the world, cats can "keep themselves
together". It moves freely from one world to the other, although it seems to be
only able to talk in the Other World. It is very sarcastic, though helpful to
Coraline. It's defiant of the Other Mother, but seems to tremble at the thought
of being stuck in the Other Mother's world. It befriends Coraline and helps her
escape from the Other Mother, though Coraline also uses it as a weapon
without its permission.
 The Other Mother – The creature that created much of the Other World and
the main villain of the novel. She looks similar to Coraline's real mother but
taller and thinner, with long black hair that seems to move by itself, black
button eyes, paper-white skin, and extremely long, twitchy fingers with long
dark red nails. During the course of the novel, she grows taller, thinner, and
paler, looking less and less like Coraline's mother. She cannot create, but
only copy, twist and change things from the real world when constructing her
version of it. She collects children, with whom she loves possessively to the
point of eventual destruction, and imprisons them behind a magical mirror,
slowly sucking the life from them. It's implied that she killed her own mother
because when Coraline asked her if she had a grave she replied "Oh yes, I
put her there myself." In the film her true form is a spidery, skeletal creature.
 She is referred to several times as "the beldam", a Middle English word
meaning "grandmother," "ugly old woman," or "hag", and also used to refer to
creatures of fairy.
 The Other Father – A creation of the Other Mother, the Other Father is used
to help trick Coraline into staying in the Other Mother's world. Like her real
father, he has a study and sits there during the day and will not talk to
Coraline for long. He does not work, however; he merely occupies the study,
as he is not permitted to talk to Coraline by himself. He is much more fun than
Coraline's real father and always tries to be cheerful and fun in front of
Coraline. In reality, the Other Father is sad and nervous. The Other Mother
ends up punishing him for revealing too much to Coraline—she transforms
him into a grub-like creature, and orders the Other Father to trap Coraline so
she cannot win her challenge, but Coraline escapes.
 Miss Spink and Miss Forcible – A pair of retired actresses who live in the
flat under Coraline's. They own many ageing Scotties, such as Hamish,
Angus, and Jock, and talk in theater jargon, often referencing their time as
actresses. They recognize the danger Coraline is in after reading her fortune
through tea leaves and give her a stone with a hole in it to help protect her. In
the Other World they are young, pretty, and perform continuously in front of
many different dogs, who, in the Other World, areanthropomorphic.
 Mr. Bobo – A retired circus performer living in the flat above Coraline's; he is
commonly referred to as the Crazy Old Man Upstairs. Over the course of the
book he claims to be training mice to perform in a mouse circus, and often
brings Coraline messages from them, though at first Coraline doubts he even
has mice to train, and doesn't listen to what he says to be messages from the
mice. His counterpart in the Other World trains rats, and is in fact made
of rats. (In the film adaptation, this character is named Mr. Bobinsky.)
 The three ghost children – A trio of children who were previous victims of
the Other Mother: two girls and one boy. The boy is described as having a
dirty face and red trousers. One of the girls has brown hair, a pink blouse and
a pink skirt. The other has a brown bonnet and brown dress. They were
trapped by the other mother at different times before Coraline, and reside in
the dark space behind the mirror. After having their souls restored, they go to
the afterlife, but not before meeting Coraline for a last time, in a dream where
she picnics with them. Here, she sees their true appearances and they thank
her for freeing them from the Other Mother.