The Magician's Nephew

i loved the chronicles of narnia as a kid. my husband bought me a hardcover boxed set for christmas, which replaced the 70s paperback falling apart set i still have from my childhood. i was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and decided to start in on the set (which is now boxed in chronological order as opposed to the order C.S. Lewis wrote them in).

this was by far my favorite book as a child. i loved the sense of two naughty kids stumbling upon the creation of a world and also the adventures they find themselves having. i was surprised at how much i remembered about the book, although vague, i had these very elaborate scenes in my still-there-somewhere imagination of the woods between the worlds, of the evil witch Jardis, of the ruins they stumbled upon in the first world they entered, of the bell upon a platform, of aslan singing narnia's creation, of a tree in a garden, of some sort of creepy uncle.

my father is a big Lewis fan and said that in an autobiography he read it said that Lewis never intended to write with Christian themes, but they happened, as it were, naturally. it is hard to believe him because even down to the apple and temptation Lewis depicts the Genesis creation pretty much. even so, i love the idea of song calling into creation and the way he describes aslan and his solo which is shortly joined by the stars.

i am glad i read these as a child and still can conjure up such pure imaginative scenarios for these scenes. i doubt reading them as an adult could produce such lively characters and places, although the book is pretty descriptive.

i had forgotten entirely about the cabby and his horse also being pulled into narnia. i thought it was interesting that aslan made them the first king and queen of narnia - which is fitting for a Christian mindset - God always makes a habit of choosing the most ordinary people to do the most extraordinary things.