Cricket Readers Recommend

This book is about Lyra, a girl who has a gift that allows her to read the golden compass which is also called an alethiometer. It is a round gadget with symbols around the edge that can answer a question or predict the future. When children in Jordan College start to disappear,  Lyra is given to Mrs. Coulter, who is unknowingly her mother and the woman who is taking the children away. Lyra knows she must journey to save the children. On the way she makes exciting new friends like witches, armed polar bears, her father, and will a boy from the future (now).