The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Lewis, C.S., & Baynes, P. (1994). The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. New York, NY: HarperTrophy.

One of seven books from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in the series.

Because of air raids during war, Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan must leave London to go live with Professor Kirke.  When they come to the professor’s home, not only is he unusual, they encounter many unusual objects in the many rooms.  While playing in one of those rooms, the youngest of the four children comes across a wardrobe.  She finds that this wardrobe leads to a secret place, Narnia.

The children’s true adventures begin once in Narnia as Edmund betrays his siblings to help the White Witch find them. The only way to dethrone the witch is by having all four of the children (2 sons of Adam and 2 daughters of Eve) sit on the thrones at the castle in Cair Paravel.  That is why the witch has threatened that any human caught in Narnia is to be turned to stone.  With all the characters in this story, the only one that can truly help is Astlan, the mighty lion which many fear.  After many adventures and a battle, the children make their way to the castle with the help of Asltan and are crowned Kings and Queens.

Figurative language such as idioms painted a clearer picture of how the characters reacted. Excellent word choice allowed the reader to paint vivid images of the characters and setting.  Foreshadowing was another literary element that I found to be very important in how this story was told.  In one section, we know that a battle would soon ensue because Father Time had given the children gifts that included weapons.  Over all, it was a great book!