The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
HarperTrophy
1978
Fantasy
I.L. 6th and up
206 pages

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I. Synopsis- The four Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, are sent into the country during World War II at the time of the London air raids. They arrive at the house of Professor Kirke. He lets them do whatever they like, except for getting in the way of Mrs. Macready when she shows guests around the old mansion. One day, as they are exploring the house, Lucy finds and interesting wardrobe. She walks inside and finds herself in the land of Narnia where she finds a faun by the name of Tumnus. He takes her back to his cave and treats her to tea and a song that puts her to sleep. After she has awaken, she finds out that he was suppose to take her to the White Witch of Narnia. He takes pity on her, however, and takes her back to the lamppost where they first met. She finds her way back to the wardrobe and runs through, shouting to everyone that she was back. Unfortunately for her, when one goes to Narnia, time stands still in our world, thus everyone else thought that she was hiding from them but didn’t hide long enough for them to notice. Another day, as they are playing hide and seek, Lucy goes back to the wardrobe to see if she was really mad. The “portal” is open once again and so she goes through. Edmund sees her go in and he follows after her. Not finding Lucy in Narnia, he meets the White Witch and is fed magic Turkish Delight. They find each other and go back home. Finally, everyone makes it into Narnia when they are being “chased” by Mrs. Macready. After making it into Narnia, they find out that Mr. Tumnus has been captured by the White Witch and that they have to trust the Beavers to get them to the Stone Table where Aslan is.

II. Evaluation of Work as Literature
Point of View- This point of view is omniscient yet it is limited to the Pevensie children. The focus changes between them from time to time, so that Lewis can point out their feelings and the like, yet he doesn’t do this for any other people. I like this and think that it is very well done because it lets one get in touch with the main characters and shows what they are going through without revealing everything about every character.

III. Personal Comments- I loved this book. For older young adults, it may seem childish, but it still conveys the same message of hope and forgiveness. I am glad that this book has been made into a motion picture for it makes kids want to go out and actually read the book after watching the movie to compare the two, which the book is always better then the movie.