The book follows Coraline, a young girl who has just moved into a new flat with her parents. It's not in a traditional apartment building; it's in a "very old house ... [with] an attic under the roof and a cellar under the ground and an overgrown garden with huge old trees in it" (3) that has been subdivided into four living spaces. Since it's summer vacation, Coraline has had ample time to explore the house inside and out. Now, she's bored. Although her parents work from home, they have no time to entertain her. The old house is filled with interesting tenants, and while they provide some amusement, they really aren't very good playmates. So, when Coraline's father hands her a paper and pen and instructs her to "Count all the doors and windows. List everything blue. Mount an expedition to discover the hot water tank. And leave me alone to work" (7), she makes a discovery: a door. Of the fourteen doors in the house, it's the only one that is locked.

Coraline's mother shows her where the door leads - only to a brick wall that was erected when the house was subdivided - but Coraline knows there is more to the closet than meets the eye. One day, when her parents are both gone, she unlocks the door and steps into an astonishing new world. Well, it's not new really. In fact, it looks an awful lot like her apartment ... only different somehow. It's inhabited by a couple, who look an awful lot like her parents ... except they aren't ignoring her and they have black buttons instead of eyes. They call themselves her "other" parents. At first, Coraline is excited about her "other" life, where something is always happening and her "other" parents are always available. It's only when she goes back through the door that she realizes the awful truth - her "other" mother has kidnapped her real parents, and will stop at nothing until she possesses Coraline.

As Coraline searches the "other" world for her parents, she makes another terrible discovery - she's not the only child trapped in the macabre alternate world. When she tries to summon the police, they laugh at her. Coraline knows she is the only one who can find her parents, save the other children and rid them all of the house's cruel menace.

Coraline shows Mr. Neil Gaiman at his creepy, bizarre best. It reminded me so much of something Tim Burton would create - it's a piece that's charming, just in a really weird way. I'm not kidding when I say that it freaked me out more than any other book I've read recently. It's a quick, creepy little read that will make even that most mundane of household items - buttons - seem sinister in the extreme. I think this quote on the back cover of Coraline says it best: