The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials #1
by Philip Pullman
is $2.99 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Compass...golden+compass
Below is the blurb:
Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal--including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world.
Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want.
But what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other. . . .