anti-God, but pro-armoured polar bears. what's not to like?

Much highly amusing furore over the impending release of the Philip Pullman adaptation The Golden Compass - mainly in relation to its being supposedly an atheist tract liable to corrupt a whole generation into godless anarchy, whereupon they will run amok flaying each other with machetes and raping each others' eye sockets, or something like that.

My completely uninformed view (as I haven't read any of the books) is this: Pullman is fairly unabashed about the books' anti-religious viewpoint (and why shouldn't he be?), and I suspect if I was a 12-year-old I would find these to be a great deal more interesting than the Harry Potter series. But they are still children's books. Let's retain a bit of perspective here. I might despise you slightly less if I spot you, as an adult, reading one of these on the bus (i.e. compared to a Potter), but I will still despise you. So be warned.

On a similar subject, I note with a sort of appalled resignation the recent film adaptation of Susan Cooper's classic The Dark Is Rising sequence - this really is a classic work of children's fantasy literature, a rich blend of Celtic and Arthurian legend. I'm not saying the film is bound to be crap, but I'm slightly troubled by the fact that they've felt the need to make the central protagonist Will Stanton American, for no readily apparent reason. I wouldn't be totally surprised if he cracked out the Uzi 9-millimetre and started wasting people in the second half of the film.

Even better is Alan Garner's Weirdstone Of Brisingamen (referenced in an earlier post) which, coincidentally, was dramatised (along with its sequel The Moon of Gomrath) on the radio recently. This, by contrast, is heavily influenced by Norse legends. If I ever have kids, they'll be getting this to read, and they'd better be grateful, the little bastards.