Age for Chronicles of Narnia

[Parson]

I hate to admit this, but I've never read "The Chronicles of Narnia." I now have grandchildren --- the oldest 2 are 8 and 7. Would they enjoy my reading them the Chronicles?

Is this a doable project in an hour or two a week?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Alex The G and T]

One volume at a time, then. Start with Lion Witch and Wardrobe and see how it flies.

The age seems right to me.

At ages eight and seven, my daughters didn't get through me reading the first book to them. They picked it up and read the rest of the series to themselves.


(Which mooted the question of how long it would take me to read them aloud.)


Other books I tried to pique their interest with didn't fly at all.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It depends on the children themselves. Some people will probably tell you that their children were reading these books to themselves while still in the cradle. Others will tell you that the books bored their children silly at that age. I would have loved to discover those books when I was 7 or 8, but unfortunately I didn't know about them until I was in my late teens. (Though I was delighted with them then.)

Certainly you could make a great deal of progress through the series in an hour or two a week. Were you thinking of 15 or 20 minutes a day, or longer sessions, less often.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

My youngest is 9 and a reader but hasn't read them yet. She enjoys the films, though, and is going through a Roald Dahl phase, and, if she was introduced to them I have no doubt she would manage them fine.

Any younger,though, I think she would have struggled to keep her attention. I second starting with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

I, like Teresa, came to them as a teen ( and Winnie the Pooh, for that matter) and loved them when I was old enough to understand the wider themes.

 

[The Ace]

I'd start with, 'The Magician's Nephew,' but it's not a bad idea.

'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,' was written for Lewis' god-daughter Lucy Barfield, and is dedicated to her, but, 'The Magician's Nephew,' (Book 6) explains a few little things like the wardrobe and the lamp-post - it was written much later, as Lewis was looking to wind up the series.

'The Horse and his Boy,' (Book 5) is set during the last chapter of, 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.'

I strongly recommend that you read, 'The Last Battle,' for yourself before making the decision to read it to a seven-year-old. The ending makes sense, but has invoked controversy since it was written, and many teachers refuse to handle this book - many who dislike the series admit that it's due to the ending.

Spoiler:

"You are - as it is called in the Shadowlands - dead."

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I love the Last Battle, it's one of my favourite books of all time (but I'm probably controversial in my views around Christianity and what not), but I think you have to build up to it through the series.

 

[wam]

I never really took to Narnia. Either I read it young or when the BBC version first came out. Something to do with the badly concealed preaching. The SF trilogy wasn't any better. Screwtape was fun although maybe a little too old for your grandkids. OK so it's still preaching but there's no attempt at concealment and he really has fun with it.

 

[kythe]

My mom read the Chronicles of Narnia series to me when I was in 2nd grade. I read it independently in 5th grade, and several times since. I have always loved those books.

I feel pretty strongly about reading them in publication order, starting with "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". The series' order wasn't changed until after Lewis' death when his stepson Douglas Gresham took over his estate and claimed that he had always wanted the series published with the prequel "The Magician's Nephew" first. But if Lewis had really planned that, he had plenty of years during his life to change the order or his best selling series. He didn't.

 

[kythe]

Sorry, double post.

 

[Lenny]

I was probably about that age when I read them.

Introduced to the series by the 1979 animated film of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which, I seem to remember, is terrifying), then received, and devoured, a lovely illustrated hardback with all of them in chronological order.

I'm going to throw my hat in with Ace's suggestion of starting with The Magician's Nephew, and then reading them in chronological order.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I like the Magician's Nephew, a lot, but I'm not sure for very young children it has the same draw as The Lion. There's a reason they made the film of the The Lion, and that's because it's the most visual, with a cracking, fast-paced story. Magician's is a little slower and more of the characters, central characters, are adult - the witch, I'm thinking of especially.

I think the four Pevensies are the big draw -- we each wanted to be one of them (I rather liked Susan, and thought Lewis was very hard on her) -- and the most accessible way to start.

 

[hopewrites]

I was given my copy of the series at about that age. I couldnt get through them myself till I was about ten, so I waited till my son was ten before I started him on them, but he quickly grew board and lost interest. He's reading other series now, I think its to do with the language.
He doesnt stop me to say "what does that mean" and I get lost in the telling and I think he resents my becoming the story rather than sticking around to help him understand it.

I would throw my hat in with the Publication Order crowd, MN is written with an undercurrent of expectation that you understand what it's leading up to. What significance its contents will have on things that happen later in the world(s) because of it.
Last Battle and Horse and His Boy are my two favorites, Silver Chair can be quite depressing (although dear Puddlefoot is said to be the most cheerful of the mugwhumps)

I didnt think they were over preachy, but then, everything in my life at that time had a moral lesson attached to it, indeed I remember thinking one summer afternoon as I lay on my bed with my cat that he was quite clever in disguising his moral values in such entertaining tales.

For me, the thrill of Aslan creating Narnia in Magician's Nephew was augmented by the relationship I'd formed with him over the proceeding 5 books. His call pulling life into everything around him wasnt an academic anomaly to be enjoyed passively from the sidelines, but a call to my heart pulling me into life as never before.

I think that you would love them. I would advise you to read them ahead yourself, because there is such fun and some adorable asides that he makes within them, that they are better read aloud with love than mutual discovery.
It is my opinion that Lewis winks at his readers from behind the pages.

However you decide to go about it I wish you the most enjoyable time possible.

 

[Juliana]

Pretty much everything Hope said.
It was my favorite series as a child and I still do ritual rereadings as an adult. But I haven't managed to interest my own kids yet; I'm guessing the language? Maybe they'll enjoy it as they get a little older...

 

[The Ace]

Don't get me wrong, I loved, 'The Last Battle,' and I liked the ending, but it's not for everyone.

Hope, please tell me you meant Puddleglum, the Marsh-Wiggle - the eternal pessimist whose friends thought he was, 'Too full of bobbance and bounce.'

 

[Extollager]

Do read them in publication order, i.e. LWW, PC, VOD, SC, HB, MN, LB.

There's a good discussion of this topic in a very good book by Peter Schaekel called Imagination and the Arts in C. S. Lewis.

Touchstone Archives: Imagination & the Health of the Soul

 

[hopewrites]

Don't get me wrong, I loved, 'The Last Battle,' and I liked the ending, but it's not for everyone.

My mom was iffy about it but never told me why. I guess I just dont get the perceived awkwardness.

Hope, please tell me you meant Puddleglum, the Marsh-Wiggle - the eternal pessimist whose friends thought he was, 'Too full of bobbance and bounce.'

I did yes, I read my copy to pieces years ago and havent replaced it yet.

 

[Parson]

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies!! My grandson who will turn 9 this summer, is not much of a reader, and the 7 year old (tomorrow!) seems to be on her way to be a reader. But they both like stories and love it when "PaPa" reads the Bible Story Book. Their two year old brother loves to share my lap with the 7 year old because there are often "actions" to go along with the earth quakes and horse riding, etc.

I am concerned about the language. We don't use words like "wardrobe" in normal conversation. I will order "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" and probably try it out a little first. Both of them like computer fantasy games so I think it should work.

Obviously, I am not concerned by the Christian subtext.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I am concerned about the language. We don't use words like "wardrobe" in normal conversation.

That's how your grandchildren can learn about a different place and time ... besides the fantasy part.

I used to love books written for British children partly because there were so many aspects of the mundane setting that were almost as exotic as the magic. Particularly books written a little before or a little after 1900. (Which is equivalent to the 1950s and 60s for our grandchildren. Consider it a glimpse of historical times, only with fauns and talking lions.)

 

[chongjasmine]

I enjoyed the chronicles of narnia. Especially the horse and its rider.
But I read them in my late teens.

 

[Bick]

That's how your grandchildren can learn about a different place and time ... besides the fantasy part

Yes, British English can be a shock occasionally, as all authors tend toward Americanisms (and I say that as a Brit). I was reading some Aldiss last night and was stopped short by his use of the word "lorry". I haven't come across "lorry" for a dickens of a time - its all trucks these days. It actually looked a bit weird if I'm honest, and placed it firmly in the 60's for me!