Discovering the Golden Compass: A Guide to Philip Pullman's Dark Materials
The New Line Cinema film adaptation of Philip Pullman s masterpiece, The Golden Compass (Knopf, 1995/VOYA June 1998) is scheduled for release in December. Fortunately for those who have not yet experienced the joy of entering Lyra s world, this accessible guide to the author and His Dark Materials trilogy is the perfect passport to Pullman s imaginative universe. Fans will appreciate the information provided about the author and his world in all formats: books (including the sequel Lyra s Oxford [2003/VOYA June 2004], and the forthcoming companion novel, The Book of Dust), plays, audio books, and the upcoming movie. Beahm is the author of pop-culture works on subjects that range from Stephen King to Harry Potter, Narnia, and pirates. Kirk is a five-time Hugo award-winning illustrator who worked for Disney s famed Imagineering division. The attractive cover of their seventh collaboration engages the reader, and the text follows through with a work that s not too academic and not at all boring. In addition to diverse facts and figures about Pullman and the universe of His Dark Materials, the contents includes a color photo essay of Oxford, England, black-and-white illustrations and photos of memorabilia, quotes by and about Pullman, comments from actors and studio heads, an autobiographical essay, a lecture that Pullman gave about the upcoming movie, and helpful Web sites and resources.This introduction to a controversial work that Pullman has called fantastical rather than a fantasy, his Paradise Lost for teenagers, is fascinating and well-written. --Voya