The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magicians Nephew

The Magician's Nephew by: C.S. Lewis.
Illustrator: Pauline Baynes
Copyright: 1955
Pages: 202
Reading level: 8-12

"Polly's hand went out to touch one of the rings. And immediately, without a flash or a noise or a warning of any sort, there was no Polly"

This beautiful story, filled to the brim with christian-based metaphors and symbolism tells the story of the two children Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer. They are good friends, one day playing in the Digory's magician uncle Andrew's attic, they discover a set of brightly colored rings. Uncle Andrew tricks Polly into touching one of the rings, forcing Digory to go after. they find themselves in a forest and soon discover that by using different colored rings they can transport themselves to different worlds. The first world they visit is one that seems to be no longer inhabited. It is full of ruins and old statues. They discover an old bell,and despite the warning on it they decide to wring it. This wakes up the witch-queen Jadis, who Polly and Digory quickly discover is evil. Desperate to get away from her they try to leave the world without her, but to no success, she follows them to London causing mass chaos. They eventually succeed in getting her back into the forest and into another world along with a lampost, a cab-driver and his horse as well as their Uncle Andrew. The world is pitch-black when they get there and they soon realize that it has not been created yet. They then watch, entranced as Aslan, the lion, sings the world into existence. As he walks along flowers sprout up around his feet, trees grow, oceans are made. the lampost is planted into the ground, the horse gets wings, and Aslan turns the cab-driver and his wife into King and Queen of the new world. The Queen eats one of the magic apples and is granted eternal youth, and because of Digory's goodness he is given an apple which he later gives to his mother to cure her of her illness. He and Polly, obviously travel home eventually. Where Digory plants the core of the apple in the backyard and buries the rings. He later turns the tree into the beatiful wardrobe Lucy finds in the Lion the Witch and the wardrobe. Digory is the old professor that the Pevensie's go to live with.

Recommended to: Preteen children, the metaphors are fairly complicated, the writing advanced.
Problems: in no way realistic, Christian metaphors and symbolism might offend some people.
Reaction: This story was beautifully told, the concept of different worlds other than our own, was inventively and told in a new light. I appreciated the background story and history that obviously went into the story. I also could appreciate the heavy, and interesting christian-based metaphors and themes it made the story very relatable and added to it's relevance in my own life.