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40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The jewel in the crown for The Chronicles of Narnia., November 11, 2005
This review is from: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Read-Aloud Edition (Narnia) (Hardcover)
I read the Narnia series aloud to my daughter as bedtime stories. We were reading from the boxed set of The Chronicles of Narnia, and we started with The Magician's Nephew. It is an interesting story in it's own right, and I assumed that since it is, after all, the "first" book in the series, that it should be read, well, first. Only later did I learn that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was written first. A reviewer pointed out to me that reading The Magician's Nephew first robs the uninitiated reader of the wonder of seeing Narnia for the first time with the Pevensie children. While it is a nice prequel, I would recommend going back to it later, for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is undeniably the jewel in the crown for The Chronicles of Narnia.
In our current age of antiheros and self-interest, a trip to Narnia is like a balm. It is a world where honor matters and where even the greatest must sometimes sacrifice. It is a world where ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things and where redemption is always possible. All of these are values worth instilling in our children - all the better that they can be introduced in such an entertaining format.
For this book would never have achieved its iconic status if it were not, first and foremost, entertaining. While it certainly functions as an object lesson in morality, as well as Christian allegory, it does this without losing sight of the main goal of children's literature, to entertain children. There is magic in Narnia, but it is subtle. The slow revelation of the power of the characters builds the suspense and keeps the pages turning. The device of drawing ordinary children into an extraordinary world is as enticing here as it was in the first Harry Potter book. It allows a child to envision the events happening to herself. The characters are distinct and memorable, making it a pleasure to read aloud as well. I'm happy to report that my daughter and I went on to finish 6 of the 7, with #7 coming up later this year. All in all, a parent child experience worth sharing.
FInally, a word about what distinguishes the "read-aloud" version. It has large print and would be good for a developing reader to follow along. It contains the complete story (not abridged for kids), including the original illustrations by Pauline Baynes. Personally, I would recommend the Complete, Illustrated Chronicles of Narnia, as it has more color and includes the other books.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A grand story!, December 19, 2005
This review is from: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Read-Aloud Edition (Narnia) (Hardcover)
One of the miracles of C.S. Lewis is that he is able to incorporate a sense of the mystical and magical with the form of the world in a Christian framework without either aspect becoming forced or stilted. The stories that Lewis has crafted in the Chronicles of Narnia stand on their own as good storytelling even without the underpinning of Christian imagery - they are strong tales, kin in many ways to the Lord of the Rings cycle, which makes sense, given the friendship and professional relationship of Lewis with Tolkein.
This particular text, 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', is the second installment in the overall Narnia series, but each story is able to stand on its own. This is a story that almost begins with 'once upon a time...' It is a good story for children of all ages (including 40-year-old children like me). The story begins in the dark days of the London blitz, with the children being sent away for their protection. This was common for people in all social classes, from the royal family on down, to send the children out to the countryside for the duration of the war - when Lewis was writing and publishing the Narnia books, this experience would have been fresh in the minds of the readers. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are the family children sent to stay with old Professor and his less-than-amiable housekeeper; it comes as no surprise that the children hope to escape from this as much as from the bombs in London, and escape they did.
Lucy found it first - the portal to Narnia, in the back of the wardrobe in the special room. Then Edmund (though he would lie about it), and then all four make the journey into Narnia, where they discover themselves to be the likely heirs of a prophetic chain of events freeing the land from the evil of the wintery White Witch, who was then styling herself as the Queen of Narnia. In fact, the real king of Narnia was Aslan, a majestic lion full of power and grace, whose soul was as pure as any child's hope for the future.
The Christian images would seem familiar to any liturgical churchgoer, but the there are also other symbols that fit beyond the religious that tap into deeper longings - evil here is not a hot place, but a frozen place, where the emotions are cold and sharp. The lesser creatures are the virtuous ones, and the children lead the way to the redemption of all. The battle of good and evil takes place in epic form, fitting many forms of heroic tales. The lion Aslan stands for the Christ figure, but can also conjure images of the lion of England - Peter's shield with a red lion makes him both the stand-in for the first of the apostles as well as a perfect casting for St. George. Other parallels abound.
The children themselves live a good life in Narnia, but eventually return to their English countryside encampment, with spirits and hopefulness renewed.
This is a tale of extraordinary power, and one that stays with the reader for a long time. Long before Harry Potter, there was Narnia - a tale that is not only fun and riveting, but also one with a strong moral lens that includes not only power, but the giving up of power; not only victory, but also forgiveness and sacrifice. Revenge is an emotion that is defeated here, and good triumphs at the last.
A grand story!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Into the wardrobe, February 5, 2006
This review is from: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Read-Aloud Edition (Narnia) (Hardcover)
C.S. Lewis pioneered a new kind of fantasy when he wrote "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" -- the kind where people from our world somehow get swept into another one. It's old stuff now, but Lewis was among the first to attempt such a thing. Because of its originality, and despite some rather hamhanded allegory, it remains a charmingly written, classic story.
To avoid the threat of bombings in London, the four Pevensie kids are sent to stay with a wealthy, eccentric professor in the country. But strange things start to happen when Lucy finds a wardrobe during a game of hide-and-seek -- when she climbs in, she finds a snowy woodland and a friendly faun. Her siblings don't believe her... until peevish Edmund also ventures through, and encounters the beautiful but evil White Witch.
Soon all four are wandering through the snowy land of Narnia, encountering mythical creatures and talking animals. They also find that the four of them are at the center of a prophecy that will lead to the return of lion-messiah Aslan, and the downfall of the White Witch. But things don't go according to plan when Edmund defects to the Witch's side...
How many fantasy stories are written about kids who crawl through a hedge, wander through a door or pick up a magical object, and immediately are swept off into a medieval land? Lots. And they owe a debt of gratitude to C.S. Lewis, theologian, author, and drinking buddy of "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien.
C.S. Lewis' story is, despite being set during World War II, very 19th-century in tone -- very charming, conversational and full of little details. He populates it with a mishmash of mythic creatures such as dryads, fauns, and talking beavers. The one flaw? Lewis gets quite hamhanded with his Christian allegory, such as Aslan's resurrection. However, he has a very good plot and charming characters to balance it out.
Those characters deftly avoid being cutesy, especially by virtue of the malicious Edmund, who slowly has a change of heart after falling in with the evil Witch. He's a much more enjoyable character than his noble brother Peter, just because he's so real. And as a counterbalance, there's Lewis's sweet-natured Lucy -- which was also the name of Lewis' granddaughter.
What does the read-aloud edition have going for it? Well, it's apparently made primarily for developing readers, with extra-large print that will allow children to follow along more easily as the reader does. It also could work as a "large print" edition for some adults.
Complex characters and still-fresh stories give "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" -- which was recently released as a major movie -- a special ambience. Definitely worth reading.
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