Coraline is a preternaturally calm young girl with parents who are so disinterested in her that an otherworldly creature has come to show her a life where her parents love her and adore her and only cook food that she likes -- but Coraline is not entirely sure that she wants to live in a world like that. This story has all the fixtures of a good middle grade novel -- bad parents, an inquisitive and bright child, a talking cat, and a magical other world -- but it also has all the fixin's of a good Neil Gaiman novel -- namely, it is creeptastic and haunting and more or less perfect. I highly recommend the audio as Neil Gaiman reads it perfectly and the rat's creepy singing is spine-tingling.