Review: Happy Halloween! Coraline is One of the Creepiest Kids’ Books Ever (Spoilers)

I first read Coraline by Neil Gaiman in the spring of 2020 because I had seen the movie a million times and thought to myself “Hold up. It’s a book?! Well, guess what I’m doing today.” From then on, I have watched pretty much every theory about Coraline on YouTube that there is and the movie is still one of my favorite Tim Burton films.

#1: Coraline

How Coraline is portrayed in the movie vs. the book is quite different, but both are pretty likeable. In the movie, Coraline is a sarcastic, resentful pre-teen who is happy to find the other world until she realizes that not all is what it seems. Meanwhile in the books, she is much less sarcastic and resentful and is more eager to be in a new place. While she does miss her old home and is bored much of the time, she finds more ways to explore her new home than we see in the movie. When the other world pops up, great! She has the ability to go on new, interesting aventures in an idealistic world run by her terrifying Other Mother, which leads me to my next point….

#2: The Beldam/Other Mother

So many theories have been made about this character, but I’m just going to stick to what we see of her in the books. If you thought she was scary in the movies, prepare for a wild ride when you read the book. Not only is the description of her much scarier – her having paper white skin, dark hair that moved every which way like tentacles, and long, red nails that seemed to have a mind of their own – but the book also comes with illustrations of her. Here’s some nightmare fuel for your day:

Not only does the Beldam look like a demon, she is also part of what seems like a larger mythology surrounding the other world, since fairies are mentioned several times in the book (we’re explicitly told that one of the ghost children is a fairy). So now that you won’t be able to sleep for a week, let’s move on to the cat.

#3: The Cat

The cat in this book doesn’t have a name, but is easily one of the best characters in the book, being Coraline’s main source of protection while she starts finding out about what’s really happening and needs to find the ghost children’s eyes. He is also the one with the most information about the tunnel that leads to the Other World and who or what the Beldam might actually be.

#4: The Ghost Children

The ghost children – while creepy – provide the most charming scenes in the story. After Coraline frees their souls, they are finally allowed to be eternally happy and go to heaven after giving her advice on how to make sure the Beldam never gets anymore children ever again. Their characters are the most moving ones in the story and the seemingly larger mythology though they only appear for a few chapters.

Until next time,

M.J.