Chapter 1: 

An 11 year old girl named Coraline discovers an old door in her new home. Her new home is a giant house that her family has rented part of. There are three other residents in he house. Two are Miss Spink and Miss Forcible who live together. There is also an old man who lives upstairs, claims to have a circus of mice, and calls Coraline, Caroline. The two women warn Coraline about a well outside. Every once in awhile she goes out to play, but she gets bored easily. One night, it is raining, and Coraline's parents are both "too busy" to play with her. She asks her mom where the door goes, since she is curious, and her mother tells her that there is just a brick wall behind the door, since it separates the two flats from each other. She decides to go to sleep, but she sees a shadow moving around her house. She follows it, and it goes under the brick wall behind the door. She thinks it is odd, but she goes to sleep nevertheless. She has an odd dream about rats singing a strange song.

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Chapter 2:

It stops raining the next day, so Coraline goes outside even though it is a little foggy. She spots the old man from upstairs and he stops her to tell her that his mice have a message for her. They said to not go through the door. The old man remarks that it is weird they called her "Coraline" instead of "Caroline", which he believes to be her name. It upsets Coraline that he does not know her name. Again, her parents are too busy to make time for her, so she goes over to Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's instead. They offer to read her future with tea leaves, and she accepts. They end up telling her that she is in danger, which scares Coraline. She asks the ladies what she should do, and they just tell her to be careful. They also give her a stone with a hole in it and tell her that it is for protection. Coraline goes to sleep that night believing that danger could be exciting!

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Analysis:

The way other people speak to Coraline first thing in the book reveals a lot about her. The first few people she talks to are her new neighbors, and by their first conversation, it is easy to tell Coraline is upset by them. She corrects them on her name, but they ignore her. They think she is just some silly kid, and this point is furthered by Miss Forcible and Miss Spink telling her to look out for the well, which is something you would tell a naive kid. Inside of the house, Coraline tries to get her mother and father's attention. But, they pay little attention to her and tell her to occupy herself by doing something else. This is one of our first insights that Coraline's parents do not pay much attention to her, and that Coraline may take for granted what she has because of these people in her life who treat her how they do. Seeing the shadow crawl under the door is Coraline's first hint that danger might be ahead. Her second hint is the old man giving her the message from his mice. Coraline's comment at the end of Chapter 2 about how danger could be fun brings light to the fact that Coraline is willing to do a lot to experience a little adventure.