Title: Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
Pages:160
Lexile level: 740L
Grade level: 5.2
Interest level: 6-8

When Coraline's family moves in to a big creepy house with a bunch of odd characters for flat neighbors, it doesn't take long for her to become bored and curious in the old house. She notices shadows and black figures scurrying about and follows them. Soon, she finds a door, which at first doesn't seem like much, but she discovers that this door leads to an alternate universe with a home quite similar to her own, but far better. But when Coraline realizes that the grass isn't greener on the other side, it's too late and her new ghostly family doesn't want her to leave, so they hide her parents from her. In this adventure with talking mice, crazy neighbors, ghost children, and a haunted hand, Coraline must constantly think on her feet.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A fairly quick read, this book is a great way to get students to explore the horror genre, as well as to keep up with character movement from fantasy to reality. Students can have creative writing projects where they take something typical for them and put it in a horror setting.