Title: Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Narrator: Neil Gaiman
Length: 3hrs 36 mins
Format: Full length story
Age Group: 10+
Neil Gaiman’s voice is perfect for narrating this slightly sinister tale.
Coraline Jones and her parents have just moved town. Bored and lonely in her new home, Coraline goes exploring on a rainy day, only to unlock a mysterious door. Like some contemporary Alice going through the looking glass, there on the other side Coraline finds a mirror-image of her world. At first things seem so much better in this new world, but soon they become very strange indeed.
Unlike her real family, her new parents lavish her with attention and cook her the food she loves. But they are also a little too insistent with their affection, and moreover, have shiny black buttons instead of eyes. Things take a sinister turn as Coraline returns to find her real parents missing, and something desperately questing after the key she keeps around her neck. Lots of beetles, spiders, singing rodents, creepy neighbors, squishy larval things in the dark, and ghosts too, though these last are friendly. Definitely not a book for the sensitive or faint-hearted, but a very readable and listenable treat for kids who can handle some gothic horror. It all turns out well in the end.
Note: There is some very strange, original music by the Gothic Archies on this recording. It appears in the introduction and as interludes. It’s not for everyone. Don’t let your kids be turned off: the music goes by quickly and there is a great story waiting beyond.
Access: The link above is through Audible at Amazon.com. Depending upon where you live in the world, you can likely also access this audiobook for free through your public library and other resources that I am blogging about, like Hoopla.
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