Reading it with my year 4 (8-9 years old) class at school. They are absolutely loving it, even the more sensitive souls. Fundamentally it has a hugely empowering message at its heart and one that kids love - overcoming overwhelming odds despite being terrified. One of Gaiman's finest books without question!
Also, I love that Coraline is a strong and well-written female protagonist. She isn't brave all the time, she doesn't have magical abilities that negate any real character growth but rather she is a human girl that rises to and overcomes a challenge. This is increasingly harder to find in modern media and literature.
Not subbed to your channel but recognized you from world Worldhoppers and thought I would drop by to see what had to say on the topic, Interesting analysis. More in-depth than the standard what -I-read-this-week vlog. Basically agree, Yes. kids should read this scary book. I agree with you that Gaiman seems to have a feel for what kids want to read. Or rather, he had a feel for what his daughter Maddy wanted to read and she turned out to be a more univeral indicator that what ithe initial reviewers thought.
I'll show this to my son, he is 13 and they are reading the book at school now. We watched the movie again last week and really enjoyed it. It is not scary but unsettling I would say. That feeling of there is something wrong... Anyways, let's se what he thinks. I am not a child 😅
When gaiman gets asked if Coraline's parents are evil and he says they're just people, i see others arguing w stuff that only happens in the movie. When i first read it i was shocked to see this and also that Coraline's supposed to be way younger and way less bratty, which i do think hurt the film. I personally never found it scary, I thought it was so whimsical with a tounch of spooky so imagine my shock when everyone told me they couldn't read or see it😭 Recently i recommended the film to my little cousin, along with Adventure Time, to watch on her ipad, and my mom told me "Those are not for kids, you were just weird" LOL
I do love that Chesterton sentiment - scary fiction like Coraline may not be for every kid, but I think concerned adults should let the child decide if they like it; show them "Where the Wild Things Are" at a young age, observe how the feel about Hansel and Greta, or the Stone Table scene in Narnia, and cater to their interests - if there's not at least some danger in their fiction it's probably boring. Coraline outsmarts the big evil, so she and the reader are rewarded for getting through the scary material. I don't know of anything aimed at kids that's ends akin to Cormac McCarthy. I adored the idea monsters when I was young, and I think I would have loved reading or watching Coraline had it been available - would have been way better then Goosebumps. Funny, I don't recall the movie's parents being that bad, or any unsanitary living, and being served glop that I'm told is good for you is something I my child memories relate to - maybe the dad wasn't a great cook, but I think he was legit trying. They were preoccupied with their deadlines and injuries and responsibilities, but they did at least give Coraline ideas of how to entertain herself. Maybe the book did this better, but I don't think the movie did it bad - I'll think about this when I watch again. I don't care for Wybie though, if only for it being more powerful for Coroline alone being responsible for the demonic hand - he allows for some exposition, but I think they could have managed that with the cat and the neighbours.
I just listened to the audiobook with my (teen) kid and we both loved it. I really felt like it portrays the world through a child's eyes incredibly accurately, so basically, I agree with everything you've said. We were looking forward to watching the movie, but now I'm not sure what I'll think of it! At least you gave us fair warning. 😁
thank you for the insights! I read it long time ago and I didn't find it scary, maybe because I was already an adult? But I really liked the story even if to me it's not one of Gaiman's best books. The movie disappointed me, it was pretty and all, but I found the story didn't quite make total sense, never knew how to articulate why, but you might be onto something concerning the parents and Wybie, thank you for pointing that out! I think it's an ok read for kids, as long as they are not too small?
It totally depends on the kid I think, there are kids who don’t like scary things even when they are quite a bit older and there are little little kids who love scary stuff
I read Coraline when it first publised, I was probably 13 and I remember it terrifying me. I read a lot of horror/thriller books then and since, but very few books left me with the sense of dread that I recall from Coraline. I've been wanting to return to it and a couple other books and seeing if I still feel that way about them.
I never found Coraline remotely scary. To me, it always felt like yet another attempt of Gaiman's to write a modern "Alice in Wonderland", which he'd been talking about for years. Like his others, it fell flat because it felt tryhard. I like Gaiman but found this book to be rather mediocre.
