Coraline

Neil Gaiman’s Coraline is a 2002 middle-grade horror novel that follows the titular character through a strange world of wonder and fear. Coraline must use her wit, her bravery, and the help of her allies to survive and escape the strange world. As the story unfolds, it examines What It Means to Be Brave, The Drawbacks of Always Getting What You Want, and The Importance of Having Allies. Coraline is a New York Times bestseller and the winner of the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella. The novel was adapted into a stop-motion animation film by the same name in 2009.

This study guide follows the HarperCollins 10th anniversary paperback edition.

Plot Summary

Coraline is a perceptive, adventurous girl whose family recently moved into a flat in a large, divided house. Coraline’s parents work from home in separate offices and have little time for her. They also cook food Coraline doesn’t enjoy. Her neighbors are Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two aging former actresses who live in the downstairs flat, and Mr. Bobo, an eccentric old man training a mouse circus in the upstairs flat. There is also a black cat that wanders the grounds, but Coraline fails to befriend it.

After exploring all she can outside, Coraline grows bored and becomes curious about a door in the family’s drawing room. Her mother unlocks the door to show Coraline that there is a brick wall behind it that was installed when the house was divided into flats. On the other side of the brick wall is an empty flat no one has moved into yet.

That night in bed, Coraline hears a noise and goes to investigate. She follows a small, shadowy shape to the drawing room, where she sees it scurry toward the door. She notices the door is ajar, closes it, and returns to bed, where she dreams of black shapes singing a creepy tune.

The next day, Coraline explores outside again. She runs into Mr. Bobo, who tells her the mice have a message for her: They warn her not to go through the door. Coraline goes back inside to spend time with her parents, but they are distracted by work. She tries the door in the drawing room, but it is locked again.

Coraline’s father suggests she go bother Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, so she does. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible serve Coraline tea and offer to read her tea leaves. The tea leaves warn of terrible danger, so the ladies give Coraline a stone with a hole through it, saying it can help in bad times.

The following day, Coraline and her mother go school shopping while her father works on business the next town over. Coraline asks for Day-Glo green gloves to help her stand out, but her mother refuses and only buys school uniforms.

When they return home, Coraline’s mother goes back to the store for food. Home alone, Coraline unlocks the door in the drawing room; the brick wall is gone. Coraline enters, believing at first that she is visiting the empty flat, but she soon finds herself in a flat identical to her family’s.

Here, Coraline meets a woman who calls herself as Coraline’s other mother. The other mother resembles Coraline’s mother but has pale skin, long fingers, and black button eyes. The other mother tells Coraline to fetch her other father, who resembles Coraline’s father but also has buttons for eyes.

The three sit down to eat a delicious meal. Coraline likes this food much more than the food at home. After, Coraline goes to her room, where the other Mr. Bobo, also button-eyed, puts on a performance with his trained rats. The rats sing a similar song to the one Coraline dreamed about. The other mother and other father keep a close eye on Coraline, treating her with the affection and attention she does not get at home.

After the rats’ performance, Coraline goes outside. She spots the black cat, who she assumes is the other black cat at first. However, it speaks to her and clarifies that it is the same cat. The cat is vague about how it travels between the real world and the other world, but it praises Coraline for being smart enough to bring protection before running off.

Coraline goes to the downstairs flat, which has the interior of a theater. On stage, the other Miss Spink and other Miss Forcible put on an endless performance. Shortly after Coraline’s arrival, they morph into their younger selves and continue to live out their glory days on the stage. Coraline gets to be a volunteer for one of their acts, but she decides to leave shortly after participating.

Her other parents are waiting for her outside. They invite her to stay with them forever to be a happy family. The only thing she must do is allow them to replace her eyes with buttons. Uneasy, Coraline declines their invitation. When the other mother touches Coraline’s shoulder, Coraline touches the stone in her pocket, causing the other mother to quickly let go. Coraline leaves the world. The other mother invites her to come back soon.

Back home, Coraline’s parents haven’t returned. Coraline waits all day and all night, but they never come back. Coraline manages to feed herself and visits Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, who do not seem concerned when Coraline tells them her parents are missing. Coraline spends the day alone, entertaining and caring for herself. That night, she wakes around 3 am and goes to her parents’ room to find their empty bed. She cries and then goes to sleep in their bed.

The cat wakes her while it is still dark. Coraline asks if the cat knows where her parents are. It leads her to the mirror in the hallway, where Coraline can see they are together but trapped somewhere. Coraline’s mother writes “HELP US” on the mirror before they disappear, and the mirror becomes normal again. Coraline realizes the other mother abducted her parents. She prepares to return to the other world, bringing the stone as well as several apples so she won’t have to eat the other mother’s food.

As Coraline and the cat walk through the corridor to the other world, Coraline recounts how her dad once rescued her from wasps and then had to return because he dropped his glasses. She explains how he was brave for going back because he knew the wasps were there and was afraid, but he went anyway.

In the other world, the other mother tries to tempt Coraline with snacks and love. Coraline refuses and demands her parents back. The other mother tries to show that her parents are fine and happy without her, but Coraline doesn’t believe it. The other mother has a rat retrieve the only key to the door; she then locks the door and keeps the key on her. The other parents go to bed and suggest Coraline do the same.

Coraline goes outside, where the cat joins her. It tells her to challenge the other mother because the other mother likes games. It also warns her that the other mother won’t play fairly. Coraline agrees and goes to sleep in her other bedroom.

The next morning, the other mother is away. The other father explains that the other mother only created the house, the grounds, and the people in the house, so there is no point in exploring. Coraline wanders the house and notices a snow globe on the mantel, but she doesn’t think much of it.

She goes exploring anyway and discovers an empty fog when she walks too far. When she returns, the other mother grows angry at Coraline’s refusal to participate in activities, so she locks Coraline inside the mirror, which leads to a small, dark, closet-like space.

Inside the mirror, Coraline meets the ghosts of the other mother’s former victims. They warn Coraline that she’ll end up like them if she cannot escape. Coraline asks if the ghost children can be freed, but they tell her the other mother hid their souls. Coraline vows to find their souls once she is out of the room. Before napping, one of the ghosts tells Coraline to look through the hole in the stone.

When Coraline is finally let out, she challenges the other mother to a game: Coraline must find the souls of the ghost children and her parents to win her freedom. If Coraline fails, she promises to stay with the other mother. The other mother accepts. Coraline looks all over for the souls, but then she remembers to use the stone. Using the stone, Coraline finds the first soul hidden in a marble.

Coraline then goes to the downstairs flat. The theater is empty now, and Miss Spink and Miss Forcible have fused into a single creature that is nesting in a sac against the stage wall. Using the stone, Coraline sees there’s a soul inside the sac, so she retrieves it, narrowly avoiding the creature’s grasp.

When she goes outside, the other mother gives Coraline a key to the empty flat so she can check for souls there. Coraline accepts the key, expecting a trick. In the empty flat, Coraline finds a cellar where the deformed other father has been discarded. He warns Coraline that he is supposed to hurt her and has no free will to stop himself. One of his button eyes pops off before he attacks her, so Coraline plucks out his other eye and escapes.

Coraline goes to the upstairs flat, which is infested with the other Mr. Bobo’s rats. Once she finds the other Mr. Bobo, she sees he has a soul inside his suit. He tries to convince her to stay, but she tells him he doesn’t understand. He reveals he’s hollow and made of rats before falling apart. Coraline chases the biggest rat out of the flat because it is carrying the final soul, but she loses track of it.

Feeling hopeless, Coraline believes she has lost. Then, the cat shows up and drops the dead rat in front of her, allowing Coraline to collect the final soul. Coraline notices how everything in the world is just a distorted version of the real world and realizes her parents are in the snow globe. She and the cat go inside for the final battle against the other mother.

Coraline tricks the other mother by telling her that she believes her parents are behind the drawing room door. The other mother unlocks the door to prove Coraline wrong. Coraline throws the cat at the other mother and retrieves the snow globe. Coraline and the cat escape, but Coraline struggles to close the door. The souls of the ghost children emerge and help Coraline pull the door shut. Coraline locks the door and returns home to fall asleep on the couch. She is woken by her parents, who don’t remember their time in the snow globe.

They eat dinner together, which Coraline appreciates more now. She then goes to sleep. In her dreams, the ghost children thank her, but they warn that the other mother’s hand is still pursuing her. Coraline wakes up to see the hand scuttling around the flat, searching for the key that Coraline now keeps around her neck.

To get rid of the hand for good, Coraline stages a fake tea party over the old well outside. She spreads a tablecloth to disguise the well as solid ground and pretends to play around it with her dolls. She places the key in the middle of the tablecloth, loudly exclaiming as she does so. The other mother’s hand jumps for the key, grabbing it but also sinking the tablecloth into the well.

The hand and the key fall for a long time, and Coraline covers the well with heavy planks. She sleeps well that night, knowing she is finally free from the other mother.