Coraline and Other Stories

Loved everything about it. If perfection in a book exists, this would be it. Especially loved Instructions.

I'd seen the film Coraline a few times with my daughter but she said I had to read the book “it's so much darker”. And she was right. I've always found Gaiman's twisted fantasy to be creepy and dark in a way that Stephen King could only wish. When he writes for children I swear it's scarier than his adult fiction.
Gaiman's children are always so “real” and believable, even in his strangest fantasies. Coraline likes to explore, doesn't like fancy food and just wants a bit of attention from her busy parents.
She's wise beyond her years too: ‘You really don't understand, do you?' she said. ‘I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn't mean anything. What then?'
I devoured the long-short story in a few days and found it drew me in to such an extent that it blotted out the film's animation and allowed new images to take its place. A difficult thing to do when you have seen a movie before reading the source material.
The rest of the stories don't completely live up to Coraline, they are all good and strange. Aspects of them will continue to gnaw at my thoughts in the wee dark hours for a while yet. These stories weren't written for children but I'd argue that Gaiman doesn't particularly write any of his fiction for children or adults. He writes for those who still wish on a shooting star and are rightfully afraid of the darker shadows
One story, The Witch's Headstone, did especially catch my attention and again there was a child protagonist. It is the precursor to The Graveyard Book, which I've never read. I believe my daughter may have it in her room. Expect a review immanently...