What do you get when you put together some of the things that raven likes:

  • Fantasy
  • Physics
  • Bears
  • Magic

and some of the things that he dislikes:

  • Religion
  • Grownups

You get His Dark Materials, the magnificent children’s series by Philip Pullman. The world of Lyra, Pullman’s 12-year-old heroine, is downright sensual in its rich characterizations and overlapping plots. It can be a grim place, where kids have to fend for themselves, and even the closest of adults are untrustworthy. But it’s also a place where friendships run deep and kids experience the sheer joy of adventure and exploration.

Alternate universes, dark matter, and instantaneous communication devices that work on the quantum entanglement principle fascinate the could-have-been physicist in me. Witches, demons, and the world of the dead give me my fantasy fix. And then there are the armored bears.

But above all, it’s the anti-religion theme of the series that delighted me to no end. As I child, I was subjected to endless moralizing in literature. If it wasn’t the overtly religious (and plainly ridiculous) stories of the Bibilical prophets, it was the sneaky proselytizing of C.S. Lewis in Narnia. (Imagine: the stupid Lion dies for me and is resurrected, but till I was 20, he was just a lion!) But Pullman’s protagonists have the most ambitious of goals: destroy not just the Church but the Authority himself. The destruction of God!

Imagine the sheer effrontery of mere mortals! No wonder Hollywood is uncomfortable with the idea.

If you have kids and want to raise modern, rational human beings, start reading His Dark Materials to them right now. And if you still think that the stupid lion from Narnia was pretty cool, you need to start reading Pullman yourself. Immediately.