You can make a difference. You can stand up and say ' NO MORE' to those ruining the things we should all treasure. To those that say its not suitable for 9 year olds - it just shows how far standards have shrunk in the ipod iwant era. First of five books - read them all - treasure them all.

On his eleventh birthday, a young boy discovers that he belongs to an ancient group of powerful beings. He is instructed in magical arts, and gets caught up in the struggle between forces of good and evil. Sound familiar? The pros of this book and series. The Dark is Rising sequence is wonderfully well-written. Some of the younger readers have complained about the story being difficult to understand, but older readers will enjoy the complex and well-planned story. Will is a positive character who loves his family, accepts responsibility, and learns from his mistakes. The cons: the story is infused with British paganism. Though it's interesting to read a fantasy based on the English mytho-historical traditions, the series presents these myths and practices as valid beliefs that just fell out of vogue. Though the series isn't blatantly anti-Christian, occultism is sometimes mentioned positively, and there is a pervasive sense that the ancient beliefs are somehow superior to the Christian faith, and servants of the Dark often hide behind a religious guise.