Coraline

Author: Neil Gaiman

First line: Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house.

Why you should read this book: Even though the mice upstairs warn her not to go through (at least that's what the strange man upstairs claims the mice said), and the strange women on the other side of the house believe she's in grave danger, Coraline uses a broom to knock the keys down and opens that forbidden door. On the other side, she finds a skewed mirror world, where everyone is very interested in making her life interesting, and a strange copy of her mother promises to love her and play with her forever if only she lets Coraline sew shiny black buttons onto her eyes. In the grand tradition of children's fantasy, Coraline must outwit the enemy and find her own way home, or risk her life and her soul in a shadowy world.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Fear of rats. Fear of things that scuttle around looking kind of like spiders and kind of like human hands with really long nails. Fear of losing ones family and being adored by a monster that will swallow your soul. Fear of having buttons sewn onto ones eyes.