A long time ago in another world known as my childhood, there were no such things as cable television, video games, home computers, or any of the incredibly wonderful diversions now at a child's disposal. Although I still managed to escape reality by entering virtual worlds of unparalleled beauty, staggering mystery, and nerve-wracking terror, it wasn't through the wizardry of technology that it was accomplished.

We had books of magic that would cast spells on us that would instantaneously transport us across years and worlds. One moment we would be sitting minding our own business under our blankets reading a book by flashlight, and the next we'd discover we were in the mysterious world of boarding schools and uniforms that made up the life of British school children.

But these children would always have the most amazing things happen to them. One group walked through a wardrobe in an old country manor and ended up in a fantastical land full of talking beasts, eternal snow, and a wicked witch. Or there was the young boy who, on his eleventh birthday, woke to discover that his whole world had changed and that he, along with many others across the rivers of time, was part of an ancient battle against the rising of the Dark.

There were also those children who never left our world but raced each other in sail boats around the lake lands of Southern England, or who acted for a young Elizabethan playwright, William Shakespeare, and fought on the losing side of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and watched their country fall under the dominion of the Normans.

(From last to first: The Hounds Of The King by Henry Treace; Cue For Treason by Geoffrey Treace; Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom; The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper; and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.)

I'm sure others could add more to that list. I know I could, and when you read the work of J.K. Rowling you can see that we weren’t the only people who grew up with those stories being so much a part of the fabric of our universe. Is it any wonder that children have to fight their parents for the privilege of reading her books?

To my wonder and joy there is another author tapping that same vein and turning out gems of stories for both adults and children. Neil Gaiman isn't only responsible for the amazing Sandman graphic comic series, but has also produced some truly remarkable fiction and stories that stretch the boundaries of our worlds and borders of our imaginations the way few have done in years.

Coraline, first released in 2003, has now been reissued in a new edition with all the original illustrations and the text intact, and an interview with Neil Gaiman about the book and his notes on Coraline been added as appendices. (If this were a DVD I guess we'd refer to them as special features – even books make concessions to the modern era.)