This presentation talks about the: GENRE AND THEMES of Coraline, AUTHOR, Neil Gaiman CHARACTERS, and the story (EXCERPT)

3. GENRES: DARK FANTASY, THRILLER FAMILY
THEMES: HOME, CONTENTMENT/APPRECIATING
WHAT YOU HAVE, AND COURAGE

4. Neil Richard Gaiman
•Born on 10 November 1960 (age 55)
•Portchester , Hampshire, England
•Now lives in the United States near
Minneapolis
•Occupation: Author, comic book
creator, screenwriter, voice actor
•Nationality: British
•Period: 1980s–present
•Genre: Fantasy, horror, science
fiction, dark fantasy
•Notable works: The Sandman ,
Neverwhere , American Gods ,
Stardust , Coraline , The Graveyard
Book, Good Omens, The Ocean at the
End of the Lane
•Spouse: Mary McGrath (1985–2007)
•Amanda Palmer (2011–present)
•Children: 4

5.  As a child he discovered his love of books,
reading, and stories, devouring the works of C.S.
Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Branch Cabell,
Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K.
LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, and G.K. Chesterton. A self-
described "feral child who was raised in
libraries," Gaiman credits librarians with
fostering a life-long love of reading: "I wouldn't
be who I am without libraries. I was the sort of
kid who devoured books, and my happiest times
as a boy were when I persuaded my parents to
drop me off in the local library on their way to
work, and I spent the day there. I discovered
that librarians actually want to help you: they
taught me about interlibrary loans."

6.  Coraline is a dark fantasy children's novella by British author Neil Gaiman ,
published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins .
 It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award
for Best Novella , and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young
Readers .
 Gaiman started writing Coraline in 1990. The titular character's name came
from a typo in "Caroline". According to Gaiman, "I had typed the name
Caroline, and it came out wrong. I looked at the word Coraline, and knew it
was someone's name. I wanted to know what happened to her.“
 It has been compared to Lewis Carroll 's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and
has been adapted into a 2009 stop-motion film , directed by Henry Selick.

7. Coraline Jones – The young explorer.
She is curious, intelligent,
resourceful, and courageous. Coraline
is often irritated by rain, crazy
grown-ups (as they all seem to be),
and not being taken seriously
because of her young age. She's
described as being "small for her
age", but Coraline is not afraid to face
anyone; she is the most adventurous
person in the book.
Mrs. Jones – Coraline's mother.
She is very busy most of the time,
and sometimes a little inattentive,
but she loves and cares about
Coraline. She is nice, and helpful,
though Coraline considers her to
be rather boring. Coraline also
gets annoyed with her real mother
because she doesn't seem to want
to let Coraline "fit in".

8. Mr. Jones – Coraline's father. He
works at his house on the computer.
He cares about Coraline very much
and is kind, brave, and helpful. He
makes interesting food creations that
Coraline strongly dislikes. He, too, is
usually too busy to spend time with
Coraline.
The Cat – A black cat from Coraline's
world. The cat acts as a mentor to
Coraline and guides her through her
journey. The cat's name is Sebastion
explaining that cats do not need
names to tell each other apart. He
moves freely from one world to the
other, although he appears to be
capable of talking in the Other World.

9. The Other Mother – An enigmatic
being who created much of the Other
World and the primary antagonist of
the novel. She looks similar to
Coraline's real mother but taller and
thinner, with long black hair that
seems to move by itself, black button
eyes, paper-white skin, and
extremely long, twitchy fingers with
long dark red nails. She cannot
create, but only copy, twist and
change things from the real world
when constructing her version of it.
She collects children, whom she loves
possessively to the point of eventual
destruction, taking their souls so they
cannot leave her world and caring for
them until they pass away, but
wanting to feel their happiness and
joy afterwards. In the film her true
form is a giant metallic skeletal-
arachnoid creature with needle-like
hands. She is referred to several
times as "the beldam ", a Middle
English word meaning "grandmother",
"ugly old woman", or "witch"

10. The Other Father – A creation of the
Other Mother in the image of Mr. Jones,
the Other Father is used to help trick
Coraline into staying in the Other World.
He is much more fun than Coraline's real
father and always tries to be cheerful
and fun in front of Coraline. In reality,
the Other Father is sad and nervous.
The Other Mother ends up punishing him
for revealing too much to Coraline—she
transforms him into a grub -like
creature, and orders the Other Father to
trap Coraline so she cannot win her
challenge, but Coraline escapes.
Miss Spink and Miss Forcible – A pair
of retired actresses who live in the
flat under Coraline's. They own many
ageing Scotties , such as Hamish,
Angus, and Jock, and talk in theater
jargon, often referencing their time
as actresses. They recognize the
danger Coraline is in after reading
her fortune through tea leaves and
give her a stone with a hole in it to
help protect her. In the Other World
they are young, pretty, and perform
continuously in front of many
different dogs, who, in the Other
World, are anthropomorphic.

11. Mr. Bobo – A retired circus performer living
in the flat above Coraline's; he is commonly
referred to as the Crazy Old Man Upstairs.
Over the course of the book he claims to be
training mice to perform in a mouse circus,
and often brings Coraline messages from
them, though at first Coraline doubts he
even has mice to train, and doesn't listen to
what he says to be messages from the mice.
His counterpart in the Other World trains
rats, and is in fact made of rats. In the film
adaptation, he is renamed Sergei
Alexsander Bobinski , but goes by Mr.
Bobinski.
The three ghost children – The spirits of
three children who were previous victims
of the Other Mother: two girls and one boy.
The boy is described as having a dirty face
and red trousers. One of the girls has brown
hair, a pink blouse and a pink skirt. The
other has a brown bonnet and brown dress.
They were trapped by the other mother at
different times before Coraline, and reside
in the dark space behind the mirror. After
having their souls restored, they go to the
afterlife , but not before meeting Coraline
for a last time, in a dream where she
picnics with them. Here, she sees their true
appearances and they thank her for freeing
them from the Other Mother. They also
warn her that the other mother is not done
with her.

12. It sounded like her mother. Coraline went into the kitchen, where the voice
had come from. A woman stood in the kitchen with her back to Coraline.
She looked a little like Coraline’s mother. Only…
Only her skin was white as paper.
Only she was taller and thinner.
Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving, and her
dark red fingernails were curved and sharp.
“Coraline?” the woman said. “Is that you?”
And then she turned around. Her eyes were big black buttons.
“Lunchtime, Coraline,” said the woman.
“Who are you?” asked Coraline.
“I’m your other mother,” said the woman. “Go and tell your other father
that lunch is ready,” She opened the door of the oven. Suddenly Coraline
realized how hungry she was. It smelled wonderful. “Well, go on.”
Coraline went down the hall, to where her father’s study was. She opened
the door. There was a man in there, sitting at the keyboard, with his back
to her. “Hello,” said Coraline. “I – I mean, she said to say that lunch is
ready.”

13. The man turned around.
His eyes were buttons, big and black and shiny.
“Hello Coraline,” he said. “I’m starving.”
He got up and went with her into the kitchen. They sat at the kitchen table, and Coraline’s
other mother brought them lunch. A huge, golden-brown roasted chicken, fried potatoes,
tiny green peas. Coraline shoveled the food into her mouth. It tasted wonderful.
“We’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” said Coraline’s other father.
“For me?”
“Yes,” said the other mother. “It wasn’t the same here without you. But we knew you’d arrive
one day, and then we could be a proper family. Would you like some more chicken?”
It was the best chicken that Coraline had ever eaten. Her mother sometimes made chicken,
but it was always out of packets or frozen, and was very dry, and it never tasted of
anything. When Coraline’s father cooked chicken he bought real chicken, but he did
strange things to it, like stewing it in wine, or stuffing it with prunes, or baking it in
pastry, and Coraline would always refuse to touch it on principle.
She took some more chicken.
“I didn’t know I had another mother,” said Coraline, cautiously.
“Of course you do. Everyone does,” said the other mother, her black button eyes gleaming.
“After lunch I thought you might like to play in your room with the rats.”
“The rats?”
“From upstairs.”
Coraline had never seen a rat, except on television. She was quite looking forward to it. This
was turning out to be a very interesting day after all.