There was a nice article about Philip Pullman in the Globe Ideas section this past Sunday. In it, they discuss if Pullman’s trilogy is really for kids, or did he write it with a broader audience in mind. I think the answer is the latter personally. My friend Briana got me to read them a few years ago. I grabbed a copy of The Golden Compass and sat down to read it. I read the whole thing in one sitting and could not wait to get a copy of the next book The Subtle Knife. We were out of it at my store, so rather than wait a few days for more to arrive, I went down the street to Wordsworth’s to buy one. The Amber Spyglass was not out in paperback yet so I had to borrow it from another co-worker. Basically I read the entire trilogy in a few days. In my opinion they surpass the Potter series in terms of story and characters. The issues are deeper and far more complex. Pullman adresses the nature of our souls and what life and death really mean. Plus his imagination captures you with its intensity and vision. He created a world where your ‘soul mate’, the closest being to you, is a daemon, whom you trust above all others. But there is the ‘real’ world as well, that is to say, the world we know, plus countless other worlds. Its one of the best series of books I have ever read. They have made them into a theater production in in the UK and I think are being made into movies here in the U.S. I might just have to reread them this weekend.