Coraline

The best kind of children's book — the kind you'll want to read when they're finished
The best children's stories appeal to readers of all ages, and with that criteria, Neil Gaiman's Coraline is a story that can be passed up through generations as well as down. Coraline Jones is a bored, creative little girl living with her too-preoccupied parents in an apartment building outside London, shared with two dotty former actresses and a crazy old man who may or may not train circus mice. When Coraline discovers that a mysterious door leads to an alternate world that contains her same apartment, only with her "Other Mother" (remarkably similar to her own mother, only much more evil and with buttons for eyes), dwelling inside, she is forced to fend for herself.

Gaiman's tale is spooky and slightly existential, but what makes it a delight to listen to is the way he, like Roald Dahl, treats his young audience seriously. He's not afraid to use funny big words and to make his heroine tough but also snotty, and to craft a story in which children do die. The result is scary and beautiful as well as entertaining and fast-moving. The author reads his own work for the audiobook, and does an excellent job with voices and tone. Listen to Coraline on a long family car trip, when you and your companions of all ages can lose yourselves in the worlds Gaiman has created.