Northern LightsThe Golden Compass (United States) Author Philip Pullman Cover artist Philip Pullman & David Scutt Country United Kingdom Language English Series His Dark Materials Genre (s) Fantasy, Steampunk Publisher Scholastic Point Publication Date 1995 Media Type Print (hardback and paperback) Pages 416 pp ISBN ISBN 0-590-66054-3 Followed by The Subtle Knife Northern Lights is the first novel in the His Dark series Materials, written by British novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1995. The superficial resemblance of protagonist Lyra Belacqua's alethiometer (depicted on the book's cover) to a large compass caused Northern Lights' North American publishers to retitle the book The Golden Compass.[1] In fact, The Golden Compasses was an early name proposal for the trilogy (instead of His Dark Materials), taken from Milton's Paradise Lost, where it refers to the instrument of drawing rather than the instrument of navigation.[1]The Northern Lights won. the Carnegie Medal for children's fiction in the United Kingdom in 1995[2], and in 2007 it was selected by the Carnegie Medal judges as one of the ten most important children's novels of the last 70 years. Contents [hide]1 Plot summary 2 Film 3 Video game 4 See also 5 Further reading 6 References 7 External links [edit] Plot summary The story begins when Lyra Belacqua – an eleven-year-old orphan girl residing at Jordan College – secretly enters the retreat room, despite resistance. of his demon, Pantalaimon; an animalistic, shape-shifting manifestation of his soul. Inside the room, they see the Master of Jordan College attempting to poison Lord Asriel, Lyra's uncle. Lord Asriel shows the resident scholars a picture of mysterious elemental particles called Dust. Soon after, Lord Asriel heads north and Lyra continues her normal life. However, soon after, his friend Roger is kidnapped by "the Gobblers", who are the subject of childhood superstition. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Lyra vows to save him and finds her chance when a visiting woman of great importance, Mrs. Marisa Coulter, offers to take Lyra away from Jordan College to become his apprentice. Lyra accepts, but before leaving, the Master of the College entrusts her with a priceless object: an alethiometer. Resembling a golden compass, it is a device capable of revealing the answer to any question asked by the user. Although initially unable to read or understand its complex meanings, Lyra takes it with her to Mrs. Coulter's apartment. Lyra becomes suspicious of Mrs. Coulter's motives when Mrs. Coulter's demon searches Lyra's room for the alethiometer. At a party hosted by Mrs. Coulter, Lyra discovers that Mrs. Coulter is the head of a religious organization known as the "General Oblation Board". " and that this council is, in fact, the "Gobblers" who kidnap children. The horror of this discovery leads Lyra to take advantage of the hubbub of the party to flee Mrs. Coulter's apartment. After fleeing the apartment, She is rescued by the Egyptians, a group of nomads living on riverboats, who then reveal that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are none other than Lyra's father and mother. She also learns that many children like Roger have disappeared among them. gypsies and they plan an expedition to the north to rescue the missing children During her stay with the Egyptians, Lyra intuitively learns to use the alethiometer Lyra joins the expedition to the north and discovers during the journey that the gypsies. kidnapped children)