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Neil Gaiman gave us a children's fantasy horror book for the ages with Coraline,  which follows its titular character through a dark adventure like no other complete with performing mice, human-like creatures with buttons for eyes, a talking cat and a humanoid arachnid soul-stealing witch.  In this episode we discuss Gaiman's penchant for borrowing from classic children's literature, his quotability and his deft ability at sneaking in life lessons (dad-isms) without having his work feel moralizing. One of our hosts also makes the ultimate faux pas ('It's Coraline, not Caroline. Coraline.').

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [email protected]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

We mentioned a lot of topics in this episode. Here’s a brief list of some informative articles about some of them if you want to do your own further research:

Neil Gaiman on libraries: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

Neil Gaiman on fear and scary stories: https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/03/20/neil-gaiman-ghost-stories/