BEFORE YOU START

Prepare a group journal to help you record group discussions and responses to the text
as you work through the book.

These notes refer to the edition illustrated by Chris Riddell but can also be used with
Dave McKean’s original illustrations, with some minor adjustments.

You could create a glossary of new vocabulary as you read the book – you may want
to prepare a format for doing this. As you go through the book, ask the group to pick
out words they are unfamiliar with or do not fully understand, such as velvet, muzzle,
vermin, raggedy, embroidery, vivid, monstrous, anteroom, shovelled, commercials and
rummaged. You could prepare photographs and video sources to bring these words
to life and help the pupils use them in context.

© Bloomsbury
 SESSION 1: CHAPTER 1

Focus: Predicting, Close Reading, Thinking Aloud

and Summarising
Share the front cover with the group. (Do not share the back cover at this point
as it reveals some aspects of the plot you may wish to hold back while the children
make predictions.)

Ask the children to predict what the story could be about. Ask them to justify
their responses, drawing out any connections they make to other stories. Record the
children’s responses in the journal. Once you have recorded their predictions you can
return to these as you read the book, comparing the children’s initial thoughts to how
the story actually unfolds.

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© Bloomsbury
Encourage the children to look in detail at the cover illustration and make connections
between this text and other stories they know.

• Who do you think this character is? What kind of person might she be?
Do her clothing and facial expressions give you any clues? What do you think
she is holding?
• What does the title suggest to you?
• Who do you think Coraline is? Is this a name you have heard before? (Neil Gaiman
says the name came from mistyping ‘Caroline’ but he kept it because he ‘knew it
was someone’s name. I wanted to know what happened to her.’)
• What do you think of the building in the background, and the setting in general?
• Where and when might the story be set? What leads you to think this?
• What impression does the old building, black cat and figure at the window give
you? Does this setting remind you of other stories you know?
• Do you recognise the names of the author or the illustrator? Have you read any
other books by them? Children may have read Neil Gaiman’s Fortunately, the
Milk, The Graveyard Book or Odd and the Frost Giants (all also illustrated by Chris
Riddell), or his picture books The Wolves in the Walls or The Day I Swapped My
Dad for Two Goldfish (illustrated by Dave McKean, who illustrated the first edition
of Coraline). They may know Chris Riddell from his time as Children’s Laureate,
his own Ottoline and Goth Girl series and the illustrations he has provided for
many children’s (and adult) authors.
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© Bloomsbury
Read Chapter 1 and invite the children to reflect on what they have heard.

• What impression do you have of the family? Do Coraline’s mother and father
remind you of other characters you know from books or films?
• Does it remind you of your family? Why / why not?
• Do you ever get bored and run out of things to do? How do your parents react?
• Is there anything unusual or interesting about where you live? Do you have any
interesting neighbours?
• How do the illustrations add to your understanding of and response to the story?
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Invite the children to explore their responses to the start of the book with the help
of the four basic questions. These questions can be used as a basis for discussion
throughout the sessions.

• Tell me… was there anything you liked about this text?
• Was there anything that you particularly disliked… ?
• Was there anything that puzzled you?
• Were there any patterns… any connections that you noticed… ?
As children respond it can be useful to write down what they say under the headings
‘likes’, ‘dislikes’, ‘puzzles’ and ‘patterns’. Record the children’s responses in the journal
and return to any questions or puzzles as the sessions continue.

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© Bloomsbury
Discuss Chapter 1 in more depth.

• What do you think about the door to a brick wall? Why do you think it is the first
thing the author mentions?
• How do you think Coraline feels when her parents don’t pay her much attention?
What would you do in her situation?
• What does the strange noise that Coraline hears when she is in bed mean (page
11)?
• How do you think the dream she has might relate to the story as it continues?
What do you think the meaning of the song is?
• What features of the story stand out for you? Was this what you were expecting?
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Ask the group to re-read and reflect on the words and phrases that are particularly
effective in drawing in the reader and filling in the background to the family situation
and Coraline’s experience.

• Which phrases do you think are especially effective at telling you about the family
situation, Coraline’s exploration, the door to the brick wall, the dark shape, the
garden and the well?
• How does Coraline’s situation affect you as a reader?
• What do you predict will happen?

© Bloomsbury
 SESSION 2: CHAPTERS 2, 3 AND 4

Focus: Empathising, Visualising, Questioning

and Summarising
Look at the illustration of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible before Chapter 2, and discuss.

• What do you think of the illustration and the accompanying text? How does it feel
to stand in Coraline’s shoes (you can see her reflection in the mirror)?
• What details of the flat, the two ladies, their appearance and facial expressions
stand out for you?
• What is Miss Spink holding in her right hand? Where have you seen this before?
What do you think it might be or what use might it have?
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Read Chapter 2 and allow the children time and space to reflect on what they
have heard.

• How does the mist make you feel?

• How do you think Coraline feels to be ignored by her parents? Which words
or phrases particularly capture Coraline’s feelings?
• What do you think about the prediction from the tea leaves?
• What do you think is the significance of the stone Coraline is given?
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© Bloomsbury
Read Chapter 3 and discuss the developments.

• What do you think is happening in this chapter? How do you explain it?
• Do you think Coraline is right to explore while her parents are out? What would
you have done in her position?
• Why do you think the ‘old black key felt colder than any of the others’ (page 32)?
• How do you feel about the other house behind the door? What about the
encounter with Coraline’s ‘other parents’ and with the rats?
• How does the other house being similar but different make you feel?
Then ask the children to complete a Role on the Wall for Coraline. Ask them
to come up with words or phrases to describe Coraline’s feelings or personality
and her outward appearance or behaviour.

To promote a higher level of thinking, ask the children to consider what they know from
Coraline’s speech and what they have to infer from her body language and gestures.

• What does something Coraline does tell you about her personality?
• And how does her personality make that action seem most likely (‘in character’)?
Encourage the children to continue to return to the Role on the Wall as you read the
story, using a different colour each time to highlight the knowledge they gain as they
read more.

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© Bloomsbury
Read Chapter 4 and discuss what happens as Coraline continues to explore the
alternative house.

• How do you feel about Coraline meeting the cat?

• How would you describe the cat’s personality and attitude? Is it what you expected?
• What do you think of the performance Miss Spink and Miss Forcible make to an
audience of dogs?
• Do you believe this is all really happening, or is it just a very weird dream Coraline
is having? How would you know, if you were in her position?
• How do you respond to the invitation to stay from Coraline’s other mother?
Do you find it appealing? Do you think Coraline will stay?
• What is attractive about the alternative life, compared with her normal life?
As a group you could shared write Coraline a brief note of advice to suggest what
she should do, with your reasons for and against her stay.

The children could make notes or draw and annotate a story map to track Coraline’s
journey and secure a chronology of events and the role different characters play in
the story.

They could write brief pen portraits of the major protagonists – Coraline, her mother and
father, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, the old man upstairs, and of course the other mother
and father, the other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and the other old man upstairs
– and add these to the journal.

These could be done using Venn diagrams, with one circle for the real person and one
for their ‘other’ equivalent, with the overlap capturing what they share in common. The
children could also do a pen portrait for the cat, who, with Coraline, is the only character
for which they do not see a double.

© Bloomsbury
 SESSION 3: CHAPTERS 5, 6 AND 7

Focus: Visualising, Empathising, Thinking Aloud

and Questioning
Share the illustration preceding Chapter 5, showing Coraline’s other mother and father,
and compare it with the illustration preceding the Introduction. Then read Chapter 5
and discuss the events.

• How do you think Coraline feels as she returns to her normal house to find it
deserted? How do you feel about the fact that even Miss Spink and Miss Forcible
will not be around the next day?
• Why do you think Coraline goes to her parents’ bedroom and cries when she
wakes at 3.12am? What emotions do you think this expresses?
• How does her experience with the mirror and her mother’s message on the glass
affect you as a reader?
• What is your reaction to the ‘help’ the policeman gives her when she reports her
parents missing? What do you think you might have said in her position?
• What might be the relevance of the incident with the wasps? What do you think is
the meaning of the phrase, ‘when you’re scared but you do it anyway, that’s brave’
(page 69)? How do you think this might be significant in this story?
• Do you think she is right to return to the other house? Do you think she will be
successful?
• How do you feel about what Coraline sees through the mirror – her real parents’
apparent reaction to her absence?
• Is Coraline right not to believe her other mother? Is there a grain of truth in what
Coraline sees in the mirror, do you think?
• How are the personalities of Coraline’s other mother and other father changing
in this chapter?
• What is the significance of there being only one old black key?
• What does the cat mean by the challenge he suggests Coraline should offer her
other mother?
• How do you think Coraline feels as she falls asleep in her other bedroom?
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© Bloomsbury
Read Chapter 6, until page 85, ‘for a way out’. Re-read the section from page 84, ‘She
looked around the room’ to page 85, ‘for a way out’ and ask the children to visualise the
scene in their mind’s eye as you read. Read the section two or three times and then ask the
children to describe what they pictured to a partner.

Following this, ask the children to identify key vocabulary or phrases which supported
their understanding or interpretation, such as:

• truly strange… strange-smelling furniture

• a bunch of grapes, two plums, a peach and an apple
• wooden table with the lion’s feet
• a ball of glass
Ask the children why these words or phrases in particular stood out to them.

• What made these words or phrases so vivid or memorable?

• What impression is created by the author through the descriptions?
• How do these descriptions make you feel?
• What would you be thinking if you were an onlooker?
• What do you think about the discovery of the snow-globe?
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Read on from page 85, ‘She went out of the flat’ to the end of the chapter.

• What is happening here? Can you add the events of these pages to your summary?
• How does Neil Gaiman convey the world Coraline’s other mother has created?
• Do you think Coraline is becoming more determined as she gets to know the other
mother better and finds out more from the cat?
• How do you feel when the other mother locks Coraline behind the mirror?
• What do you think is going to happen next? Why?
• Do you think Coraline will be able to escape? Will she change her mind about staying
with the other mother?
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Read Chapter 7, in which Coraline meets three ghostly figures, and discuss.

• Who are the three figures that Coraline encounters behind the mirror?
• How does the illustration help your understanding?
• What do you think Coraline might see if she looks through the stone?
• Whose voice is speaking to her?

© Bloomsbury
 SESSION 4: CHAPTERS 8, 9, 10 AND 11

Focus: Summarising, Re-reading and Empathising

Discuss the illustration preceding Chapter 8.

• What do you think the illustration shows?

• How do you think this ties in to the story?
• Which details make you think this?
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Read Chapter 8, in which Coraline challenges her other mother to release her if she
can find her parents and the souls of the three children from behind the mirror. Ask
the children to discuss their responses to the text so far with the help of the four basic
questions. Ask the group to reflect on the words and phrases that are particularly
effective in keeping the reader engaged and moving the story along.

• What has happened in this chapter?

• Do you think Coraline is right to challenge her other mother?
• Do you think she can succeed? Do you think her other mother will let her go
if she does?
• How does Coraline’s search for the souls affect you as a reader?
• How do you think she will find the third child? Will it be as easy as the first two?
• What do you predict will happen when Coraline continues her hunt?
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© Bloomsbury
Explain to the group that you are going to hot-seat in role as Coraline so that they can
explore her viewpoint and her feelings further. Ask the children to discuss and decide
on five questions that they would ask Coraline at this point in the story. Challenge them
further by asking them to:

• predict the answers to the questions

• restructure the questions so they provoke a deeper response: discuss different ways
of phrasing questions and model how to recast a closed question as an open one.
Then ask the children to choose their three most effective questions. Take the hot seat
as Coraline and invite the children to discuss your answers.

After this, update the Role on the Wall for Coraline.

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Read Chapters 9 and 10 in which her other mother gives Coraline a key, the cat helps
her find the third soul, and she realises where her parents are.

• How does the illustration of the other mother giving Coraline the key add to your
understanding of the story?
• Do you think Coraline is right to go to the cellar? What do you think she should
expect?
• How does the state of her other father affect you as a reader? Why do you think
he seems prepared to help Coraline?
• How do you react to the old man outlining all the ways her life with her other mother
would be better?
• Do you think the cat is right to suspect the other mother’s honesty? Should Coraline
also doubt that she will honour the terms of the challenge?
• Do you notice any change in the cat?
• Do you think Coraline is scared? Do you think she is being brave?
• What do you think will happen when she goes back inside?
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© Bloomsbury
Discuss the illustration preceding Chapter 11.

• How does the illustration prepare you for what you might be about to read?
• How do you feel about seeing a scene from the chapter before you read it?
• Is it a spoiler or does it help your enjoyment and engagement?
• Why do you think the author, illustrator and publisher decided to do this?
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Read Chapter 11 and discuss the events.

• How do you feel about Coraline’s attempt to trick her other mother?
• Do you believe her plan can succeed?
• What is your reaction to the tense scene where Coraline and her other mother
face off and Coraline throws the cat at her? Did you expect this would happen?
• How does Neil Gaiman build and maintain the tension in this scene? Which words
and phrases are especially effective?
• Do you think this is a good point at which to end the story? Why / why not?

© Bloomsbury
 SESSION 5: CHAPTERS 12 AND 13

Focus: Re-reading, Clarifying and Thinking Aloud

Share the illustration preceding Chapter 12 and discuss it.

• What do you think is happening in this illustration?

• How might it connect to what you have read?
• What clues does it give you as to how the story might end?
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Read Chapter 12 and reflect on the events.

• How do you feel when Coraline is woken up by her own mother?

• How do you respond to the dream where Coraline picnics with the children she
has rescued?
• Do you understand what the children say to her about what happens next? What do
you make of their advice, ‘Be wise, be brave, be tricky’?
• Do you agree with Coraline that this outcome is not fair? How do you think the story
should end?
• How does the appearance of her other mother’s right hand affect you as a reader?
• What do you think will happen next?
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Share the final illustration, preceding Chapter 13, and discuss.

• How does this illustration affect you as a reader?

• How do the words relate to what you are about to read?
• What details of the hand especially affect you?
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© Bloomsbury
Read Chapter 13 and discuss the events with the help of the four basic questions
as well as those below.

• What do you think of the ending?

• Is this what you predicted would happen?
• How do the final tea party and Coraline’s visit to Mr Bobo affect you as a reader?
• How does the author draw everything together in one place?
• How does the illustrator add to the story?
• What role does the variety of unusual characters in the story play in the way
the story develops and ends?
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Consider the different characters and the plot and setting.

• How does the author use the setting of the house and its double? How important
do you think this is to the story?
• Which character was your favourite? Why?
• Which character, aspect of the story or event interested you the most?
• Did any of the characters remind you of characters you know from other books?
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In the introduction Neil Gaiman says he wanted to write a story for his daughters ‘that
told them something I wished I’d known when I was a boy: that being brave doesn’t
mean you aren’t scared. Being brave means you are scared, really scared, badly scared,
and you do the right thing anyway.’ He also quotes the author G.K. Chesterton at the
start of the book: ‘Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons
exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.’

• What is your understanding of what Neil Gaiman says about being brave?
• Do you think Coraline’s experience shows you this? When do you think she was
scared but did the right thing anyway?
• What do you think of what G.K. Chesterton says? Do you think this story is like
a fairy tale? Why / why not?
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© Bloomsbury
Talk about the book as a whole. Engage the children in book talk, discussing how the
book made them feel and allowing them time and space to tell you their likes and dislikes,
with reference to different parts of the text or illustrations.

• When you first saw this book, what kind of book did you think it was going to be?
What made you think this?
• Now you’ve read it, is it as you expected?
• Have you read other books like it? How is this one the same? How is it different?
• Would you recommend this book to a friend?
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Use hot-seating to explore the characters further. Invite one member of the group
to hot-seat in role as the character and answer questions from the rest of the group.

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Review the story in chronological order and consider the different emotions Coraline
has felt throughout the story. Work collaboratively to choose words to describe these
emotions. Write these on sticky notes and then organise them to show the emotions
she has felt in the story and create a graph of emotion.

Through modelling, ask the children to describe their favourite part of the story. Provide
the children with an oral scaffold, such as: the most memorable part of the story was...
because... ; my top moment in the story was... because... and ask them to discuss their
favourite part of the story in pairs. Encourage children to give reasons for their choices
and invite some children to share these.

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These resources were created by Bloomsbury and The Centre for Literacy in Primary
Education (CLPE). For more teaching resources, visit:

www.bloomsburyguidedreading.com

www.clpe.org.uk

© Bloomsbury