Before the film came out, on my little girl's 5th birthday, we read the book together. I had actually bought the book when I was dating my wife. Children do not see it as scary as adults see it. In fact, they see it as a wonderful adventure, where it gives some adults nightmares. I think the quote at the beginning of the book, describes it the best; "It's not that we teach children that dragons are real, but we teach them dragons can be defeated."

this book is sooo great!!! but younger kids that are 1-8 may think it's to creepy, scary, or they just wont understand the book at all. but for kids 9 and up if they like creepy scary books then bye them this book.

I read it and screamed/gasped at one part. My 8 year old listened to it on CD & my 10 year old read the book (in one day). The 8 year old adored the book. The 10 year old said, "It wasn't scary mom." And this is the kid that runs out of the room during parts of the original Star Trek & Lost in Space series! I personally couldn't put the book down........SPOILER...........Like all the books I've read by Gaiman, this one has a sweet message with a nice ending....unlike scary Stephen King.

I LOOOOOOOOOVED IT!

I read this myself first to make sure it would be alright and enjoyed it very much. I then read it over the course of several nights to my rather sensitive 5 year old son and 6 year old daughter. I planned the readings so we would end on "happy" parts but they both absolutely loved this book. There were no nightmares. My daughter insists that we read it again and she really liked the character of Coraline. Very well done!

If you noticed the RED sign I gave violence, that is because of the content not so much blood. I read the book and I had to read it in daylight I got so scared. The "Other Mother" is a sinister and macabre character, and the creepy extremely scary drawings made it worse. It was a good book but very very scary.

I enjoyed the movie when I saw it, but the book is better, although a shorter time period. I enjoy Neil Gaiman's adult stories and this has the feel of one his short stories expanded. I don't really agree that this book is violent at all, though there are a few scary moments, and the over all feeling of the book is creepy. Tweens that enjoy the horror genre would get a lot out of this book and it's MUCH better written than most of what's out there in that vein. (Can I tell you how much I despise the Goosebumps books? They're like Harlequin romance novels for kids. Why do we encourage bad writing?)

The author has an amazing imagination and thought the setting was creative. It had some creepy parts to it, but overall, I really enjoyed the book. I can't wait to see the movie!