In honor of its 61st birthday this week our first review of The List is…
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
I am sure everyone within the sound of my blog has heard of this story. The hugely successful movie adaptation of the book brought Narnia to the world. According to BoxOfficeMojo, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe film made $65.5 million opening weekend, $291.7 million domestically (U.S.), and $744.8 million worldwide (from Narniaweb.com)
Loved the movie… have you read the book?
The story begins with the Pevensie family separated by World War II. The father is fighting for
While exploring the house, Lucy (the youngest) discovers a huge wardrobe that is actually a door into the magical world of Narnia. Like all good magical worlds this one is full of mythical creatures, is ruled by an evil witch, and needs a good rescue.
Along the way to the rescue, readers are challenged with a story of true courage, failure, forgiveness, and redemption.
This story was written over 60 years ago by an Englishman, so there may be some British-isms that need to be translated (but if you made it through Harry Potter, you have no excuse). A minor phrase here and there is no reason to skip over this excellent story.
The title page of this book reads “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a story for children”. If you have children or if you have ever been a child, you should give this book a try.
And what about those of us who have read this one? Have you read the other books in the series? There are eight books in the Chronicles of Narnia; all are worth a glance. The Magician’s Nephew is actually a prequel to the series, so skipping to that one might be fun.
Have you read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? How old were you when you read it?
To all Narnia nerds who have read the whole series: which story is your favorite and why?
I've read the whole Narnia series at least 6 times. I'm reading it aloud to Jason and Owen now. We're almost finished with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I love them all, so picking a favorite is extremely difficult. I would say The Magician's Nephew is my favorite (today, anyway). The creation scene, watching the world come to life so shortly after an old world died, seeing how short a time that world held perfection, and watching Digory choose to follow Aslan's rules even though he knows breaking the rules will save his own mother all come to mind as reasons why I love this book. Frank, Helen, and Strawberry make the list, too.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear you are reading the books with Jason and Owen. Reading + aloud with your children + Narnia = bliss! King Frank in The Magician's Nephew is also one of my favorite characters. I appreciate so much Lewis' theme of the humble, least appreciated, youngest, etc. characters selected for special honor through Narnia. It's a good reminder for all of us. Thanks for posting!
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