Children's Books > Philip Pullman Children's Books

Advantages: excellent storyline
Disadvantages:

...her whole life and as the book unfolds she finds out a lot of truths about herself. She finds out about her mother, that she has a half brother, her dad spent a short period of time in jail and that her grandparents are horible people. As the book goes on Ginny leans these things and runs out of people to turn to. But in the end she discovers that her dad, who she has completely lost faith in, is the only true person in her life. This is a fantastic ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliant end to a brilliant trilogy. Short chapters: ideal stopping places
Disadvantages: Much longer than the others. Very descriptive in the middle.

A little short of amonth ago, I woke up on Christmas morning and opened my presents. One of these was Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. I had eagerly awaited these (guessing I would get them for Christmas) and tucked into them immediately. The first two in the trilogy, namely 'Northern Lights' and 'The Subtle Knife', leave you thristy for more. Pullman creates a fantastic tale over the course of the trilogy, leaving the reader needing ...
...first two books, over 500 pages long, and at points in the middle, it seems to drag slightly.I found myself pushing through long descriptive paragraphs without incidences of conversation to break up the monotony. These descriptions were integral to the plot, as is everything, but I felt Pullman was close to going off at a tangent in these parts. Pullman touches heavily on the religious nature of the books in this third and final installment. I had ... Read review

Advantages: brillent read
Disadvantages: cant put down

other worlds, demons and armored bears 'yep' Philip Pullmans Northern Lights has it all, if you like fantasy then you will like Philip Pullamns Dark material series.Follow the tail of a girl called Lyra and her demon Pantalamon (pan) for short on there jorney to the world of ice and tartars in bolvengar or visit the land of the bears in Savalbad and meets people like Iorek Byrison the beanished murdering prince of the armour bears,or the sinister ... Read review

Advantages: Great read
Disadvantages: Some may think it's only for children

...Sally is more worldly than the average sixteen year old and manages to make some useful friends, including photographer, Frederick Garland, and office boy Jim. Nevertheless, will she manage to overcome all her troubles to find out the mystery behind her father's death? Philip Pullman is almost certainly best known for his brilliant His Dark Materials trilogy, which I would class as science fiction for children (although I loved all three books and ...
...Dark Materials - both cross the line between children's and adult's fiction. Ciao has classed it as children's, but I think this is debatable - I certainly enjoyed it as a work of adult crime fiction. I saw the televised version of The Ruby in the Smoke last Christmas, starring Billie Piper as Sally Lockhart and thoroughly enjoyed it. As such, I was dubious about reading the book, because I didn't want to be disappointed. I most certainly wasn't. ... Read review

Advantages: Wonderful comic tale with touching human emotions
Disadvantages: The story was not long enough for me, I wanted more!

...(or older - being 25 I loved it!). Philip Pullman uses satirical newspaper articles throughout the book to enhance the story and to add comic effect which parents will find as humorous as children. The humour continues with the comedic adventures of the naive 'rat boy's' misunderstanding of the human world and his rat like behaviour which bring not only comedy but touching images of him as an outsider. As with Philip Pullman's other novels this ...
...the reader with respect and is never seen to patronise or 'dumb down' his writing. His style makes the book enjoyable and his descriptions allow the reader to enter into the novel's world. The line drawings of Peter Bailey complement the story well, reflecting the action and moods of each chapter. Highly recommended book for children too young to read Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy - hopefully after this introduction they will fall in love with ... Read review