Breaking: Pullman excerpt up at the Guardian

Breaking news: An excerpt from Philip Pullman's Once Upon a Time in the North is up at the Guardian. An excerpt with Lee and Hester. (Squee!)

A Few Items of Interest

It's spring break for me and I'm in a place with sunshine. (Sun! How I've missed you.) So, I'll be out and about until it's dark and then I'll be back with a review of Siobhan Vivian's YA A Little Friendly Advice. In the meantime, here are some do not miss items of interest:

• Chris Bond talks to Philip Pullman in the Yorkshire Post. Pullman shares a little writing advice in this piece: "'So write what you want to write, because people don't know what they want to read. It's like politicians asking focus groups what they should be doing. If you're in politics you should know what you want to do...Read everything you can get your hands on, in fact if you're not a compulsive reader you probably shouldn't be writing.'"
• No stone-throwing at this blog or at this blogger, please. But I'm just going to come out and say it: I am not a fan of The Little Prince. In fact, my feelings on The Little Prince are quite strong. I hate it. I don't think it's a children's book and I find its message as delicate as a steel-headed hammer. But...for those of you who are interested in The Little Prince, don't miss this article about the German fighter pilot who (possibly) shot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry down in the Globe and Mail.
• It's Non-Fiction Monday! Don't miss the round up at Anastasia Suen's blog.
• ETA: Via the lovely ladies at Finding Wonderland, I hear my blog friend Nick Green is getting the last laugh with his Cat Kin books. As well he should. I loved the first book in the trilogy--Cat Kin--and managed to finally get the second book (Cat's Paw) back from daughter last week so I could read it myself. (She confiscated it when it arrived to our house because she loved the first so much. Then she loaned the book to two of her friends. She's now banned from opening my mail. But, this story of tween disobedience tells you that the Cat Kin books do indeed appeal to children.)

Have a great day, everyone. I'm off to go boulder climbing with the kids. Outside. In the sun.

The Golden Compass: First Report

My first-year seminar (Literature, Intertextuality, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials) students and I took a little field trip this afternoon to see The Golden Compass. I think our views on the film are all different and mixed. But, there was one shared moment, one I hadn't anticipated after reading multiple reviews and articles on the movie.* When the movie ended and the screen went black there was a collective "WHAT?" from us all (and several other members of the audience). I mean, seriously. What did you think of the ending?

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*For a full record of articles, check out Monica's educating alice. She's been collecting them the past few weeks under the tag "Waiting for Lyra." Thanks, Monica.
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In the deluge of articles on His Dark Materials, the "weirdest HDM article" award goes to Emily Bazelon's consideration of His Dark Materials and Flowers in the Attic in Slate. Again, seriously. Go read it. Then let me know what you think. I, personally, am still reeling from its conclusions (?).

Philip Pullman presentation

Philip Pullman's Barnes & Noble presentation is up and ready for viewing at Barnes & Noble.com. Thanks, Kris , for the alert! I'm watching it now.

Poetry Friday: Pullman and Collins

This semester I am lucky enough to be teaching a first-year seminar called "Literature, Intertextuality, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials." When reading Paradise Lost, the students and I also considered Pullman's "Introduction" to a 2005 edition of Milton's classic published by Oxford University Press. Pullman's "Introduction" is worth the cost of the volume, despite the fact there are no notes to the text.* (The lack of notes was intentional. Pullman wanted "to let the poem stand alone.")

In the "Introduction," Pullman argues for reading poetry aloud: "The sound is part of the meaning, and that part only comes alive when you speak it...you're already far closer to the poem than someone who sits there in silence looking up meanings and references, and making assiduous notes." Pullman continues, "We need to remind ourselves of this, especially if we have anything to do with education." (3)

Our discussion on Pullman's "Introduction" to Paradise Lost brought up, of course, Billy Collins' "Introduction to Poetry." Here are the final five lines of "Introduction to Poetry" as today's Poetry Friday entry:

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Read the poem in its entirety here at PoetryFoundation.org

The students and I discussed the importance of experiencing the "rolling swells and peals of sound, powerful rhythms and rich harmonies" present in poetry (Pullman, 3), and then went on to tie Paradise Lost to a chair and flog it. But, still, our intentions were honest and good.
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* Pullman's 10-page introduction to Paradise Lost is worth the cost of the Oxford University Press edition despite the fact it is printed on glossy paper. I do not have a book fetish. Books are for reading, not collecting. And glossy paper--like glossy photos--gives me the creeps. (And, yes, I do understand the glossy paper is for the reproductions of Burghers' woodcuts. But I still don't like it.)
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Today's roundup is over at Literary Safari.

Yes!

Pullman wins 'great book' title. (Via the BBC.)

Weekend Reviews (II)

As day two of a three-day weekend comes to a close, here are the rest of this weekend's reviews:

Susan Carpenter reviews two of Minx's graphic novels "aimed at teen girls" for the Los Angeles Times: The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci and illustrated by Jim Rugg; and Re-Gifters: A Graphic Novel, by Mike Carey, illustrated by Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel

In the review-slash-interview department, Rebecca Pearson talks to Alexander Gordon Smith and Jamie Webb, authors of The Inventors, for the Independent.

The Washington Post KidsPost Book of the Week is Barnstormers, by Loren Long and Phil Bildner

Regan McMahon reviews picture books featuring "lean green croaking, chomping machines" for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Helen Dunmore's The Deep (the third volume in her amazing Ingo trilogy) is the Times Book of the Week.

In this week's Not-a-Review category, Philip Pullman states children's television is "'social poison', treating its audience as marketing opportunities while portraying them as dangerous and feral." (In the Guardian.)

The Best News Ever

Sarah Kinson interviews Philip Pullman for the Guardian. Now that's good news on any day. But, his answer to the last question just sent me to the ceiling. Here it is in all its glory:

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A sequel to His Dark Materials. But I can't say more than that. It's going to be a long book, and I'm only part way through it.

I can't adequately express my emotional reaction to this news. There simply are not enough exclamations or exclamation points at the ready. I'm just going to have to sit with this for awhile.

BBC Production of "The Ruby in the Smoke"

The Scotsman reported over the weekend that the BBC will be producing Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke.

Here's the quote:

• "With a big-budget film version of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy scheduled for next year, the BBC has cleverly dusted down the first of Pullman's earlier quartet of novels for their Christmas adaptation. Current flavour of the month actress Billie Piper takes on the role of Sally Lockhart, a feisty orphan who is as accomplished with a pistol as with accountancy. "

I wonder if this production will make it over to the States...