Coraline

Categories: Teen Books , Graphic Novels , Horror & Supernatural

In 2002 the great Neil Gaiman wrote a children's novel, Coraline. Darkly spooky, scary and suspenseful, the book brings to mind a fairy tale, with a resourceful heroine facing daunting odds to save the day. It also brings to mind Alice in Wonderland, where Alice is confused but still seems to know whom to trust and where to find help -- and the way out.

Recently published is the graphic novel, Coraline, adapted and illustrated by the award winning P. Craig Russell. At first I was worried: how could I accept this new version of Coraline, a pre-teen in t-shirt and jeans? How could the atmosphere of the spooky old house and its inhabitants, so well developed in Gaiman's words, possibly be communicated in pictures?

I needn't have worried. Russell brings it all to vivid life, a little bit scarier than the novel was, with pictures lifted straight out of the imagination. This is the everyday brought to nightmare level, with buttons for eyes and confederate cats and souls trapped inside mirrors.

Come along with Coraline...stay...we want you to...