HisDarkMaterials.org

ChampionNews.com reports: Christian teachers have criticised a public reading scheme which urges children to read what they say is an 'anti-church' book. 

Sefton Council want young people all over the borough to pick up Philip Pullman's Northern Lights - a novel which is seen by some faith groups as anti-Christian propaganda. The event - the Big Read - is a mass reading session, and this is the first time Sefton are taking part.

BBC reports: Philip Pullman's Northern Lights has been selected as one of the greatest children's books, but CS Lewis and Terry Pratchett have been omitted.

The UK's oldest award for children's writing, the Carnegie Medal, has selected 10 former winners to mark the 70th anniversary of the award.

The voting booths just opened, so cast your votes here!

Scholastic has informed us that they'll be publishing two new editions of the His Dark Materials books.

The left one features identical content but sports a cover which will supposedly appeal to the younger readers.

The second new edition is a refreshed version of the classic British edition, this time with updated (foil) cover art; these books also contain the appendix added in the 10^th anniversary editions.

View the new editions in Photograms.

Playthings has an extensive review online of the American International Toy Fair. Here's what they had to say about the His Dark Materials related merchandise.

Corgi also is previewing its extensive launch of product tied to The Golden Compass, the first chapter in Philip Pullman's sophisticated young-adult fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. The much-awaited film from New Line and Scholastic about 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua's journey to the Northern Lights to rescue a kidnapped friend features shape- shifting animal familiars, talking armored polar bears, and dozens of intriguing characters, which will be represented in products for both kids and adults, Allen says.

As you know HisDarkMaterials.org is dedicated to providing the His Dark Materials community with the most comprehensive information on the His Dark Materials books and movies. Amongst other means, this is accomplished through the Srafopedia, our interactive encyclopedia.

The Srafopedia is far from complete, but luckily for us there exists the wonderful reference guide The Elements of His Dark Materials by Laurie Frost. To celebrate the publication of this book we are giving away two copies of this comprehensive volume.

All you have to do is to contribute a piece of information related to the books which is not yet listed in the Srafopedia. You can submit as many entries as you like, but be sure to credit your sources.

You can submit your entry as a comment to this article. All entries must be received by February 1^st. Two winners will be selected out of all the entries received.

From the (right-wing) "National Review Online":

"One of the unfairest demands adults make of children’s literature is that it conform to their particular religious or political notions of worthiness, and the new film projects of C. S. Lewis’s Narnia novels and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy — not to mention that boxed sets of both books will be hard to avoid this holiday shopping season — has fueled the long-simmering feud between fans of each fantasy series."

Phit created two amazing maps, one of the world, another of Lyra's Oxford.

Comments or suggestions can be sent to Phit via private message.

View the maps!

Philip Pullman's novels, especially His Dark Materials have been translated into many languages. The trilogy, along with other Philip Pullman books, is now making the language jump into the Iranian market.

TEHRAN – The British author Philip Pullman’s “The Broken Bridge” and the last two volumes of the series “His Dark Materials” have been translated into Persian by Farzad Farbod.

The book will be soon available in the bookstores by the Panjereh Publications.

On 24th of August, the second annual Mythopia Convention will take place in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

This convention is jointly organized by the Israeli HDM community, the Israeli Tolkien Society and the Harry Potter for grownups.

Bloomsbury has recently launched the BigBadRead, a search to find the favourite literary villain from a children’s book. As Mrs Coulter is one of the 40 selected villains it is our duty to make sure that she wins! You can either vote via the website, or by pressing the vote button below.

Waterstone's will soon be selling exclusive signed, numbered and slipcased limited editions of each of the three volumes of His Dark Materials.

There will be only 1000 special editions of each of Northern Lights, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass available. The books are first editions of the stunning new Tenth Anniversary hardbacks in specially designed individual slipcases, and each volume will retail at £30.

Each book has been flatsigned by Philip Pullman and hand numbered by Ian Beck (who also designed the endpapers of the anniversary editions). The publication date for these collector's editions is October 24th.

On Sept. 27th the "Inside His Dark Materials" DVD was released. Starring Philip Pullman the DVD is available on Amazon.com for $22.45 (Available from Oct. 15th)

Go to the Inside His Dark Materials DVD Page on Amazon.

According to descriptions this film is " Inspired by John Milton's Paradise Lost, reclusive author Philip Pullman created His Dark Materials, an award-winning trilogy chronicling a battle between good and evil that was as well-received by audiences as it was by critics. Using CGI animation, 3-D illustration, on-location shooting and intimate interviews (including a Q&A with Pullman himself), this behind-the-scenes look at the books' appeal is a must-see for diehard fans."

Harry Potter is highlighted in a new edition of the Oxford Primary Dictionary for helping youngsters expand their vocabulary.

New author J K Rowling's books about the fictional wizard are featured in the revised dictionary, released today, that aims to help seven to 11-year-olds put words and phrases into context using excerpts from popular fiction.

The new edition explains dry and unusual words by associating them with much-loved books, making it easier for children to recall and reuse them.

Gerry from Artsmagic informed us that they are

"close to completing a two volume set dedicated to His Dark Materials. The first programme is 1 hour in length and concerns the life of Pullman and his other works. The second is two hours in length, and is dedicated to His Dark Materials itself. We use a mix of cgi animation and illustration, together with location footage, a bit of live action, and interviews. These include our script writer, critic and friend of Pullman, Nick Tucker, who wrote Darkness Visible...Inside the World of Philip Pullman.

Also The Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Woof, a specialist on William Blake and a student from Exeter College today. And, most importantly, an exclusive hour with Pullman himself. Other interviews which we have not been able to use in these programmes but which we might publish on a third disc include ones with his English school teacher, Enid Jones, and his best friend from school, Mervyn Jones, who is currently a bigwig in BBC Wales and Vice-Chancellor of Bangor University."

More information coming soon!

Contributors with backgrounds in philosophy, theology, science fiction, and children's literature bring their expertise to this critical investigation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, and the insights it offers to today's world.

The His Dark Materials trilogy is an unusual sort of young adult series: one that appeals to adults as much as to their children thanks to its richly imagined world, rigorously explored cosmology, and unflinching confrontation of the modern answers to life's big questions.