The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1996) Alfred A. Knopf

Lyra, a girl whose uncle, Asriel is magical, follows kidnappers who have taken her friend Roger and gone north. Where there are clans of witches and armored bears who rule the snowy lands. Lyra is fierce and persistent and will not stop looking for her friend, not even when she finds him in her evil stepmother’s clutches. This makes her the perfect champion to fulfill Asriel’s scheme to build a bridge to a parallel world.