I would like to note that I am not rereading The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, just The Dark is Rising. The book's title is the first victim of Hollywood tweaking. Hopefully it is the last. I have great distrust for film and TV adaptations of beloved books, and I've heard all sorts of rumors about this one (the most outlandish being that the film is set in the United States. Surely not!!!) But, in light of the fact that the film will probably be a big hit, and that there will be many requests for the book at work, I thought this was a good time to revisit it. I last read it in the late 90's, when I was first playing with the idea of writing for children and consequently rereading many of my old favorites. Also, you never know when you will watch a film adaptation of a book you never meant to watch. In March I found myself on a rainy afternoon settling in at a $1.00 theatre to watch Charlotte's Web, which I certainly had no intention of seeing when I first heard of its release. In fact, I made a point of reading it with my daughter, because the book is so precious to me, I wanted to endow it to her as best I could, and that meant making sure she read it before she ever saw it, which I assumed would eventually happen. And it did--at my own hands! So, should I find myself on a snowy afternoon in December at the local cineplex, settling into a viewing of "The Seeker" (and, since I do like Christopher Eccleston, it's not beyond the realm of possibility,) I want to be well prepared with the words of the original still fresh in my mind.
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