The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis(HarperCollins, 8+)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Once upon a time, when I was seven or so, I read the Chronicles of Narnia. I remember having to make a diorama, which was awful since my art skills were much the same as they are now, but somehow I suffered through and drew Susan and Lucy and Aslan and the big broken slab of stone. I remember writing my one-page paper on a typewriter, of all things. And I remember reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first, because that was the first book.
I continued the series and blew through them fairly quickly. And I'll admit to you now, my favorite is The Horse and His Boy, which is unusual, I suppose. At the time, of course, I didn't understand any of the Christian allegories, having being raised completely without religion in my life at all. Which also meant, I really didn't get The Last Battle. I'm still really not sure what was going on there. But up until that point, I loved the gorgeous portal fantasy of it all, still one of my favorite genres. There's nothing like that first discovery of Lucy pushing through the coats to find a winter wonderland and a singular lamppost in the woods.
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis(HarperCollins, 8+)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
However, this is no longer how children are introduced to Narnia and it really grinds my gears. I don't know the specifics of who made the decision, although I've heard it was Lewis' estate, but they've since been renumbered into a chronological order, so The Magician's Nephew, a prequel previously numbered book six, is now the first volume. It just doesn't make any sense, and despite HarperCollins' claims on the copyright page that this is in compliance with CS Lewis' intentions, I can't imagine he really felt that way. And I'm sorry, but if he did, he was wrong.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is fully meant to be the first book in the series. There's a magic and a wonder to discovering Narnia with the Pevensie siblings, seeing it for the first time as they do. It's clearly an introduction to the fantasy world. Reading The Magician's Nephew first would be akin to reading The Wizard of Oz second to another Oz novel or Through the Looking Glass before Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. You lose the brilliance of discovery if you've already found what they're finding in that moment they step into a new world. Reading Narnia out of order takes it one step further, however, since a lot of questions raised by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are later answered in The Magician's Nephew since the title character, Digory Kirke, turns out to be the mysterious professor the Pevensie children are sent to live with, and the origin of the wardrobe is explained.
As a bookseller, it really pisses me off the most. I feel like hordes of children are reading these books in the wrong order and it just means that they're missing out. So whenever I sell these books, I make sure they know which order to read them in. I had a little girl come up to me the other day and try to buy The Magician's Nephew, and I stopped and asked her if she'd read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe yet and had to send her home with that one first and a hand-written list of the original order. HarperCollins, why do you cause me so many problems?
Some interesting further reading on the subject: What Would Lewis Do? Have they really based this entire renumbering based on some pandering letter he wrote to an eleven-year-old?
And for the record, it goes:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis(HarperCollins, 8+)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis(HarperCollins, 8+)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis(HarperCollins, 8+)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis(HarperCollins, 8+)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis(HarperCollins, 8+)
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
AMEN.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with this newfangled ordering. It's foolishness.
That's the order i read them in as well, but I always worried that kids might not read The Magician's Nephew b/c they might now know its a part of the series since he wrote it later (it's also my favorite one of the series). However, I have to disagree with some of your star ratings; The Silver Chair is worth more than 2, 4 at least, and feels like a reflection of the Magician's Nephew. Also, The Horse and his Boy is pretty weak, but you pointed out it's unusual to like that one.
ReplyDeleteSilver Chair's 3 stars, The Last Battle is the only one I gave 2, and it's clearly the weakest. Obviously I'm gonna disagree about Horse and His Boy. All that said, however, it's been years since I've read any of them, so my ratings are purely based on my remembered enjoyment level.
ReplyDeletePreface: I hated The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when I was made to read it in the 6th grade, but I also grew up in a religious household and that's the time I started rebelling against all that nonsense.
ReplyDeleteBut...
"And I'm sorry, but if he did, he was wrong."
THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU EMMA.
Oh, I remember that we started the series by reading it aloud together...great stuff. And I probably still have that paper you typed somewhere!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea they reordered the books. Kids who come into your bookstore are lucky to have you, Em! xo