A Word About "The Golden Compass"

The series of books that the movie "The Golden Compass" is based on are considered to be one of the greatest achievements in CHILDREN'S literature in the past 70 years. Pay attention to that statement. This is considered "CHILDREN's" literature.

Aside from the anti-Christian theme ... Among the themes in this tale by author Phillip Pullman are (list provided to me by a friend who HAS READ THE BOOKS):

Murder
Kidnapping
Torture
Rape
Sex between two 11- to 12-year-old children (this, at least, is alluded to, not hashed out in gory detail)

Another person, who has read the books, tells me these are NOT appropriate for children because they contain concepts that would be frightening to children (kidnapping, murder, torture, rape), they are quite bloody and violent, and almost everyone dies.

Currently published in the US by Scholastic books, this trilogy will be finding its way into schools and classrooms, most likely it already has since the books have been around for a number of years. Scholastic is reportedly offering special incentives to get these books in the hands of our children in classrooms. In a world where much more innocently themed books like Huck Finn, How to Eat Fried Worms, and even Where's Waldo are challenged or banned from the school setting, I truly want to know why this trilogy has not made that list? I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want my child exposed to many of the themes in this set of books.

Ultimately, it is the role of the parent to decide what their child can and cannot read, or watch, up until that child is of an age to decide for themselves. However, I do not believe books with themes of this nature should be made available to a child by the school without the consent of that child's parent.

My son's school sends around a list of questionable and challenged books at the beginning of the school year and I have to sign regarding whether he is allowed to check out books on this list or not. I will be sending a request to the school board asking that this series be added to this list, due to the fact that many of the books the kids check out never make it into the home. He could feasibly check out the book and I wouldn't even know he was reading it to be able to discuss it with him.

As much as I am a Christian, the anti-Christian theme, although troubling, is not my main concern with MY child reading these books. His faith and belief are strong enough to withstand the attack. In fact, I suspect he would stop reading it as he figured it out. When I explained to him the ultimate goal of the main characters he was very offended and wanted to know "how anyone could even think they were strong enough to hurt God." Yes, the FAITH is strong in this one Master Yoda! The things I do not want him exposed to, at his age, are the themes of violence, murder, rape, hatred and sex between under-aged children.

The titles of these three books are: "The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife," and "The Amber Spyglass."