The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a captivating tale of adventure and wonder that has had generations of children—myself included— imagining themselves in Narnia right beside Lucy, Edmund, and Aslan.

It presents big concepts like good versus evil, personal sacrifice, betrayal, forgiveness, and redemption in an engaging and whimsical way, inviting children to consider deep spiritual matters while exploring the land and creatures of Narnia.

With talking animals, magical creatures, and four children having the adventure of their lives, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe offers something for everyone in the family.

Anything by C.S. Lewis could be on my list, but this was the first thing I ever read by him.

I first read it as an adult – I started the book on a whim, not really expecting much, since I thought it was only for kids – and I never put the book down until I had finished it! I read the whole book in one day, and then (since I was on vacation) I read the other Narnia books that week – one book a day – and I was hooked.

The Narnia books may seem like children’s… show more.

At ten years old, my passion for storytelling sparked when I read the Narnia series. I remember reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and my imagination exploded.

It was the first time I read a fantasy novel that whisked me away into another world. So, this book is filled with nostalgia for me as I’m in the midst of writing my own YA fantasy series, Beacon Hill. C.S. Lewis created strong themes of faith, hope, and love woven throughout the pages.

And perhaps the greatest takeaway from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is there is a… show more.

This second book in the popular Narnia series, is one of my favorite. It is easy to read, and wonderfully descriptive, following the tales of the Pevensie children. Behind the wardrobe, the Pevensie children discover the world of Narnia, and so begins their adventures in aiding Aslan, the mighty lion and ruler of Narnia, to defeat the evil white witch who has invaded the land. Aslan is a depiction of Christ in this story. 

Sword-wielding adventures in ancient lost lands tend to awaken the adventurer in me and lend to my very overactive imagination. I so enjoy fiction, fantasy, and… show more.

I was enchanted by The Chronicles of Narnia the first time I read them, and the seven volumes of this series continue to charm, both entertaining kids and offering a more thought-provoking journey on later reading. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the best-known book of the series, is a high fantasy novel but also a portal fantasy: our heroes exit wartime Britain through the back of a wardrobe and emerge in Narnia, with its talking animals, evil witches, and mysterious (at least to an American kid) Turkish delight. If you’ve ever longed to step through an ordinary… show more.

What more of a dream does a kid have than to find a secret door that takes you to a magical land? And this book has been allowing readers to do that for more than half a century. I read the entire series before I began creating worlds, tearing through them to find all the strange, new lands inside. But it also showed the misery that came with escaping your life, and the responsibility for others that came with adventure. This was a foundation of what I’d eventually write, allowing me to (if I may say) get my foot in… show more.

I started reading this book, quite frankly, because C.S. Lewis was renowned as a Christian author. Within a few pages however, I was immersed in this masterpiece that became the anchor of an entire series – without becoming the least bit preachy.

Lewis’s Narnia is yet another example of a highly imaginative fictional Universe. He relates this so deftly that you barely notice that many of the characters are talking animals and other impossible creatures.

The plot of this book is yet another epic tale of Good vs Evil. It, too, has stood the test of time.

This is the book that, for me, started my love for fantasy books. My 4th-grade teacher recommended it to me because she saw how creative I was, and she thought it would be right up my alley. So, I went to the school library, checked it out, and devoured it that night.

The story introduced the idea of parallel worlds to me, which at the time blew my mind. Parallel worlds now feature heavily in my writing, and I can trace my fascination back to Narnia. 

The first book of the religious allegorical series The Chronicles of Narnia. For their safety, four English children are evacuated to a country house during WWII. Via the portal of a magic wardrobe, Lucy and her three siblings enter Narnia, a magical world filled with mythical creatures and talking animals. Here, the siblings first learn of, then attempt to fulfill, a prophecy about the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve to save, with the help of Aslan the lion, the kingdom from the White Witch Jadis, who keeps Narnia in the grips of winter. The allegorical highlight… show more.

The Pevensie children’s adventures were my introduction to portal fantasy, and my love for it has never changed. There’s a particular kind of expectant hope and childlike wonder that begins on this story’s pages and finds its home in readers’ hearts. It’s a hope that’s kept me peeking into wardrobes ever since, and it’s a rare and special story that can bring that kind of childlike wonder into a person’s grown-up years.