HisDarkMaterials.org

Philip Pullman applauds a novel of unobtrusive craftsmanship

This article from way back 2002 is a review of Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons. I hear you thinking "What does that have to do with HDM?". Well this review is actually written by Philip Pullman!

Sharon Creech, who won the Newbery Medal (the most important American children's book award) with Walk Two Moons, is a skilful storyteller, whose books I always read with pleasure. Ruby Holler concerns the adventures of the orphan twins Florida (a girl) and Dallas (a boy), who are named after the tourist pamphlets in the box in which they were abandoned as babies. When the story begins they are 13, and living in the Boxton Creek Home for Children, a miserable orphanage run by the short-tempered and greedy Mr and Mrs Trepid.

This interview with Michael Morpurgo in Financial Times shows that Morpurgo (Britain's third Children's Laureate) was raised with books. He still reads a great deal of children's literature. He calls J.K Rowling's Harry Potter first but The His Dark Materials trilogy is not far behind...

The "great grey-green greasy Limpopo River" of Rudyard Kipling's imagination made a big impression on the young boy who was to become Britain's third Children's Laureate.

Michael Morpurgo's mother, an actor, read to him from an early age - poems by Walter de la Mare and John Masefield, and then, one happy day, from Kipling's Just So Stories.

Publishers are reducing the number of books they release to concentrate on "big name" authors or "good-looking" first-time novelists who are more marketable.

Research by The Bookseller magazine has found that leading publishers are set to cut new adult titles by up to 20 per cent over the next three years to try to boost profits.

Choice will be sharply reduced and it is feared that off-beat authors and "wild-card hits" will be ignored or missed.

An article about Fanfiction this time, the joys and horrors... A really good read actually...

It was Christmas at Hogwarts, and Dobby the House-Elf was more excited than Harry had ever seen him. More excited, even, than when he had first been granted his freedom.

"Six socks! Six socks, Harry Potter!" Dobby piped in his loudest whisper. "Six socks, six socks!" he sang. With five long rugby socks on one foot, and three overlapping on the other, and one long dangly sock on either of his long dangly ears, Dobby capered wildly from foot to foot in the shredded remains of the wrapping paper from which the six new additions to his collection had emerged.

It is extraordinary to think that not so long ago a child described as a "bookworm" was assumed to have a problem. "Take your head out of that book," was the caring parent's command, "and get outside while the sun's shining." As soon as parents saw their children seduced from books by the lure of the dreaded TV, though, the tune changed.

The success of J K Rowling and Philip Pullman in popularising children's fiction is reflected in a record number of entries for the children's category of the Whitbread Book Awards, whose shortlists are announced today.

Four titles have been shortlisted for each of the five categories - novel, first novel, biography, poetry and children's book. Category winners are revealed on 7 January, followed by a face-off between them for the £30,000 top prize, to be announced on 27 January.

Clare Stewart on why rare first editions fire the imagination of investors as well as readers .

Ceres Wunderkind did it again: in Time and Peter Joyce the wonderful story of The Clockmaker's Boy is continued – and finally brought to an end, as it seems.

This article is aout giving children the space to develop their reading habits. It mentions Northern Lights as well: "First in Philip Pullman's magnificent His Dark Materials trilogy and a genuine modern classic. Know your child, though, and don't ruin it by pushing it too soon."

A new adventure in fantasywriting.
My own story. A small creature, a micet called Trentin, is about to start the biggest adventure of his seemingly meaningless life. This small creature is asked as a guide for a group of elves who go ork-hunting. In this prologue-chapter the history of these strange creatures is explained. I hope you like it and I hope to post more of it (that is if people like it). Start reading the strangest story involving an axe in a Fantasyworld."

There was some confusion about the release date of 'A readers guide to His Dark Materials', by Claire Squires, because although we were told by Mrs Squires that the book wasn't released yet, on Amazon.com, you can order the book here. We mailed Mrs Squires and she assured us the book hasn't been released yet and that you can only pre-order it yet.

According to Pullman, one of the greates influences in His Dark Materials is the essay "On the Marionette Theatre" by Heinrich von Kleist. As Pullman says in his interview with Amazon: "What I say in 1300 pages, Kleist manages to do in 3." There's even a part in Northern Lights/The Golden Compass that was almost literally copied from this essay. Can you spot it?

Roy wrote an excellent summary of the Sally Lockhart triliogy. I know, it isn't His Dark Materials, but they're excellent books written by Philip Pullman.