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Pivotal Watch and Read

Coraline

 

 

Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor.

The Movie

A young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life - only much better. But when her adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents (including Other Mother) try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home - and save her family

Explore Coraline's world

The Book - Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers ("We trod the boards, luvvy") and the mustachioed old man under the roof ("'The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,' said the man upstairs, 'is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed.'") Coraline contents herself for weeks with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious.

What's on the other side of the door? A distorted-mirror world, containing presumably everything Coraline has ever dreamed of... people who pronounce her name correctly (not "Caroline"), delicious meals (not like her father's overblown "recipes"), an unusually pink and green bedroom (not like her dull one), and plenty of horrible (very un-boring) marvels, like a man made out of live rats. The creepiest part, however, is her mirrored parents, her "other mother" and her "other father"--people who look just like her own parents, but with big, shiny, black button eyes, paper-white skin... and a keen desire to keep her on their side of the door. To make creepy creepier, Coraline has been illustrated masterfully in scritchy, terrifying ink drawings by British mixed-media artist and Sandman cover illustrator Dave McKean. This delightful, funny, haunting, scary as heck, fairy-tale novel is about as fine as they come. Highly recommended. (Ages 11 and older)

Coraline Reading Guide (by Neil Gaiman) Gr.4-8 Harper Children's

Class discussion ideas

A Foreshadowing lesson using Coraline

Summary, book talk and 15 discussion questions
Coraline games and e-cards
http://www.mousecircus.com/coraline/flash/coraline.html
Reader’s Theater from Children’s Sequoyah Sampler
http://www.oklibs.org/sequoyah/0405/2005_Ch_sampler.pdf  
see pg 27
Scheme of Work and Guided reading resources

Infer and deduce meaning using evidence in the text

Teaching resource sheets for Coraline (PDF, 163 KB)

 

 

 

You can buy the book from Amazon, or request it free if you are a member of Pivotal Gold Book Club.

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Play the game on Wii

  

 

 

 

 

Download the soundtrack

 

 

 

 

 

 Play with your own Coraline Doll

 

 

 

 

Hang up your own Coraline poster

 

 

 

 

 Download any piece of music from the movie

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