tiny pink books

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Harper Collins, 2002

Is it just me or is Neil Gaiman everywhere these days?  He’s gone from comic book and scifi/fantasy author, celebrated by gothgirls and teenage alterna-types everywhere in the 90’s, to multi-award winning children’s, adult, and young adult author, celebrated and praised by just about everyone.  And the funny thing is, he totally deserves it.  Coraline is Neil Gaiman’s masterpiece for children, combining just the right touches of creepy darkness and quirky, light-heartedness that makes a book memorable and beloved by children and adults.

In Coraline, Coraline Jones becomes bored one day when her parents are busy working and no one seems to be around to play with her.  She discovers a secret door in her flat that leads to an alternate world where the toys are alive and, more creepily, another, more doting, set of her parents live.  The other parents, most specifically, the “other mother,” want Coraline to stay in their world forever and when Coraline does eventually go back to her own world, she discovers that her real parents have gone missing.  Back in the other world, Coraline senses the darkness that lurks under the surface and must demonstrate all the intelligence, bravery, and cunning that she can to escape this weird other world and save her real parents.

I personally didn’t love this book in the same way that other do (especially given its long list of notable awards); however, I did think that it was a very well-written and exciting book that will hold up well to a vast range of audiences.  Children, who will read this more as an adventure, will be delighted with the character of Coraline and the fantastic elements throughout the book.  Teens and adults, on the other hand, will be sucked in by the subtle darkness that adds a real sense of urgency to Coraline’s dilemma.  I’ve seen many a review that compares Coraline to Alice in Wonderland. I can see the parallels in that both books are creepy to the core and surreal in their execution, however, I think that Coraline is a much more accessible book for most readers, young and old.  I adore Alice in Wonderland, of course, but I admit that it can be a challenging read, even for some adults.  Coraline, however, has that special place in that it is readable at many levels, allowing it to be interesting and enjoyable for all ages.  I would recommend this book to just about anyone who is in the mood for it.  I think it would work especially well as a family read.

I listened to the audiobook, read by Neil Gaiman himself.  Unlike many authors in their “read by the author” produced audiobooks, Gaimen does a good job of reading the book.  Music by the Gothic Archies is interspersed between disks, which I found a little irritating and out of place, though the musical interludes are short enough so as to be tolerable.

The Tale of Despereaux
by Kate DiCamillo
Scholastic, 2004

The Tale of Despereaux is the Newbery Medal winning tale of a tiny mouse who wants to be a knight.  Despereaux, our main mouse, does not fit in with the other mice.  Instead of focusing on such activities as eating and scurrying, Despereaux reads a fairy tale and falls in love with the castle princess.  The result, is the story of Despereaux’s exile and subsequent hero’s quest.  There is a princess, a king, some very mean rats, and a slow witted lazy girl named after a pig.

Tale of Despereaux is written in an interesting voice that addresses the you, the “dear reader,” in a way that gives the classic fairytale style a silly and witty feel.  The characters, too, are written with a wry sense of humor and hint of darkness that reminded me slightly of Mervyn Peake’s Gormonghast.  The problem I had with this book stems from this.  While the book’s tone has spurts of dryly sarcastic and dark humor, DiCamillo never quite commits to this, leaving us with an uneven plot that never quite moves away from the typical fairytale structure. The characters become cookie cutter as the book moves on:  we have one, tiny, underdog of a mouse for a hero, one motherless princess who is beautiful and smart, one dark and sinister rat as the villain, and, most upsetting, one fat, lazy, ugly girl who is dumber than a box of rocks.  Of course, I found some of these characters to be somewhat amusing (mostly the dumb and bumbling Miggery Sow), yet the fact that every character in this book seemed familiar and, in many cases, tired, left me feeling slightly bored.

All that said, there are many children who will enjoy The Tale of Despereaux. The book has a very classic fairytale feel to it and the postmodern narration adds a slightly original twist.  I have trouble using the word “original” when describing this book though.  Although there are elements of this book that are enjoyable and fun, everything in it has been done before.  Even so, children are fresh and new themselves…and this material may not be as tired and typical for them.  I would recommend it to children who are young enough to appreciate the wholesome, classic fairytale aspects of this book (it’s recommended 3rd grade and up and I would stick to the lower end of that age range).  As for me, after reading Tale of Despereaux, I found myself longing to reread The Secret of Nihm  to read a story that more successfully explores the whole rats vs mice in society concept.