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. –––––– © 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. –––––– © 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? –––––– 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. –––––– © 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? –––––– 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? –––––– 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? –––––– © 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. –––––– © 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.