As you may have noted in an earlier post I read the book Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, in the past few days the controversy over the book has come to my attention (its all over librarian listservs and blogs!). From what I have read, including this, Philip Pullman is a strong atheist and wrote this series of books to promote his beliefs, sort of the other side of the coin to Chronicles of Narnia. The mission in the books apparently is to eventually kill god. The book is seen by some as anti-Christian, anti-Catholics, etc… I am a little confused though. Philip Pullman was quoted as saying “I don’t profess any religion; I don’t think its possible there is a God…” so if he doesn’t believe why did he write a series of book where the goal is to get to and kill a god that according to his personal beliefs does not exist in the first place? Just a little point I was pondering. I also wonder if the controversy is similar to the Harry Potter issue, a bunch of people who have never read the series but pass judgment on it. I want to withhold my final judgment on the controversy until I read the other two books in the series. Remember this is an award winning book that has previously been sort of acclaimed
Two articles posted from Sarah Krygier, Young Adult Librarian Solano County Library who decided to not hold a program surrounding the movie and books.
Literary Review -Claudia FitzHerbert talks to Philip Pullman
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