C. S. Lewis
A little while ago I decide to relive some childhood memories and picked up the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. As a child I loved these fantasy adventure books, 8 in total, including: The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, A Boy and His Horse, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle.
As a child I did not pick up on the oppressive amount of religious symbolism…after creating Narnia, Aslan died for the sins of all the real sinners. The books seemed rather abrupt as well, not completely fleshed out.
When comparing these books to more recent children’s books, such as Harry Potter, it interesting to see how much things have changed. In C. S. Lewis books the female characters are often subservient to the males. Women are forbidden to be placed into dangerous situations, such as battle, unless absolutely necessary (finally, in the last battle, a female protagonist kills something evil with a weapon). In one of the stories each character is armed for battle by Aslan’s magic, the males each receive a sword and the single female character is armed with…a riding crop…spank some bad guy ass.
The books are all short, and available at the library for free…but if your busy lifestyle only has enough room for a single children’s series, I would suggest sticking to Harry Potter.
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By christopher hearns, September 12, 2005 @ 7:23 pm
What’s the other book. I only know of seven. You only listed seven. What’s the other book?
By Kirstie Vinny, September 13, 2005 @ 1:31 am
I’m sure it was a typo. Look up Chronicles of Narnia at wikipedia.
By Bubba High King of Narnia, September 13, 2005 @ 10:47 am
ahhhhh…I read one of the books twice, replacing the main character with myself…I kicked some ass with my riding crop let me tell you. But I guess that one shouldn’t count.