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The first volume of that trilogy, Northern Lights, (The Golden Compass in the US) won the Carnegie Medal for children's fiction in the UK in 1995. The Amber Spyglass, the last volume, was awarded the Whitbread Book of the Year prize in January 2002, the first children's book to receive that award. The trilogy won popular acclaim in late 2003, taking 3rd place in the BBC's Big Read poll.

Like the Harry Potter books, the His Dark Materials books have been at the heart of controversy, especially with certain fundamentalist Christian groups. It is claimed by some that he actively pursues an anti-Christian agenda. Proponents of this view point to the critical articles he wrote regarding C. S. Lewis's NarniaNarnia is a fantasy world created by the English author C. Lewis as a location for his Chronicles of Narnia a series of seven fantasy novels for children. In it, animals talk, mythical beasts abound, and magic is rampant. Geography Narnia The name "Narnia series (which Pullman denounces as propaganda), and the usually negative portrayal of the "Church" in His Dark Materials.

The two series resemble each other in many ways. Both feature pre-adolescent children facing adult moral choices, talking animals, religious allegories, parallel worlds, and the fate of the worlds hanging in the balance. The first published Narnia book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe starts with a young girl hiding in a wardrobe, as does the first Dark Materials book, Northern Lights.

Indeed, some have seen the His Dark Materials series as a direct rebuttal of C.S. Lewis' Christianity-inspired series. Pullman has criticised in particular Lewis's use of a fictional cure for cancerFor other meanings of Cancer: see Cancer (disambiguation . apoptosis; cancer cells, however, avoid apoptosis. Cancer is a group of related diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell division. Currently, it is believed that cancers arise from both genetic in one of the Narnia books, which Pullman claimed would raise false hopes in children who were themselves, or who had friends or family members who were, seriously ill. He has also criticised the way Lewis excludes the character Susan from the final heaven scenes in The Last BattleThe Last Battle is the final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. Lewis was awarded the Carnegie Medal for the book. Synopsis In The Last Battle Lewis brings The Chronicles of Narnia to an end. The book deals with the end of time in Narnia and s, saying that she "goes to hellHell is, according to many religious beliefs about the afterlife, a place of torment, of great weeping and gnashing of teeth. The English word 'hell' comes from the Norse Hel', which originally referred to the goddess of the Norse underworld. In most reli" for her growing worldliness and her rejection of Narnia. Lewis devotees argue that Pullman has read far too much into this; indeed Lewis made no such statement about Susan's final destiny, and never excluded the possibility of her rejoining her friends in heaven later.

However, Pullman has also found support from more liberal groups, such as most notably, Rowan WilliamsThe Most Reverend and Right Honourable Rowan Douglas Williams FBA, (born 14 June, 1950) is the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, a theologian, poet and lecturer. Rowan Williams was born in Swansea, Wales, into a Welsh-speaking family. He was educated at, the Archbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is a bishop of the Church of England. His see is the Diocese of Canterbury and his episcopal chair ('cathedra') is at Canterbury Cathedral. He is the most senior bishop of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Co. These point out that Pullman's attacks are focused on the constraints of dogmatismThis article is on dogma in religion. Other uses of Dogma are at dogma (disambiguation Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas is belief or doctrine held by a religion or any kind of organization to be authoritative or beyond question. Evidence, ana and the use of religion to oppress, not Christianity itself. Dr. Williams has gone so far as to propose that His Dark Materials be taught as part of religious education in schools.