The Golden Compass

Author: Philip Pullman
Publishing Info: Yearling, 2001
Suggested Reading Level: 13+ years

Synopsis:
Lyra Belacqua, a precocious 11-year old orphan, and her daemon (an outward manifestation of her soul in animal form), spy on her uncle, Lord Asriel, and other scholars at Jordan College. They hear about happenings in the North which include a city from another world being seen through the Northern Lights and pictures revealing Dust, a golden substance falling from the sky and collecting on adults through their daemons. Though Lyra doesn't fully understand all that the scholars discuss she gathers that the topics of discussion are sensitive, secret, and thought dangerous by the Magisterium, the ruling theocracy of Lyra's world. From this meeting Lord Asriel receives funding to conduct research in the North on Dust and the world seen in the lights.

Then children in Oxford begin disappearing and it is rumored that the Gobblers are kidnapping and taking them North. When Lyra's best friend, Roger, disappears Lyra vows she will find him. But another visitor to Jordan College, the clever and beautiful Mrs. Coulter, distracts Lyra from taking immediate action. Mrs. Coulter entrances Lyra and convinces her to be her assistant for some research in the North. The Master of Jordan College is worried about Lyra's going and has a secret meeting with her before their departure. He gives her a round, golden object called an alethiometer. He tells her it is a truth reader, he doesn't know how to use it, and she should keep it secret from Mrs. Coulter at all costs. After many months in London Lyra begins to distrust Mrs. Coulter and worries they will never go North. She soon learns that Mrs. Coulter is part of the Gobblers who are working under the direction of the Magisterium. She also learns that the Magisterium has paid the armored bears of the North to keep Lord Asriel prisoner so he can't conduct his research.

Lyra runs away and meets up with Gyptians who are heading North to rescue the children taken from them. They take Lyra under their wing and give her insight into how to use the alethiometer. With practice she finds that she can ask questions to the instrument and understand its answers without the help of the many books that men in the past have needed in order to read it. Lyra also finds out from the Gyptians that Lord Asriel is actually her father and Mrs. Coulter is her mother. The Gyptians enlist the help of Lee Scoresby, an American with a hot air balloon. They also enlist Iorek Byrnison, a powerful armored bear who is the rightful king of the armored bears but was cast out by a usurper of his throne. They also recruit witches who when they see Lyra reading the alethiometer believe she is the child of a prophecy which says she will make a fateful betrayal and is “destined to bring about the end of destiny.”