Age: 3rd-5th grade
Very scary--may induce nightmares.

Never quite noticed by the adults in her life, Coraline likes adventures outside the house. But when a torrential rainstorm forces her adventurous spirit in the house, she explores what little she can. In the drawing room, she finds a door that leads to a brick wall. Over the next few days, her mind never wanders far from the possibilities on the other side of the door. Alone in the house one day, Coraline opens the door and the brick wall is gone. She walks through and finds her house on the other side--except it's not quite her house. Things are slightly off. She mistakes a woman as her mother but sees that her eyes are replaced with tiny black buttons. Although this other house appears to offer all that Coraline has wished for, she is slightly scared by the oddities and leaves. Returning to her real house, her parents have gone missing. Knowing that her Other Mother must be keeping them, Coraline must trick the Other Mother into giving back her parents--and some lost souls locked away in the other house.

Frightening images of severed hands, scary chase scenes, and mutated bodies, this story would be great for reading aloud but it may be too scary for reading alone.