Tonight I started reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to Daughter the First. I wasn't sure if she would enjoy it, since there are few pictures, she's just 5 and a half, and we haven't tried reading a chapter book before.
Well, at the end of the first chapter she asked for another, and at the end of that one it was tough to convince her that we couldn't read any more tonight and she'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm so glad she's enjoying it.
The Chronicles of Narnia (just the books for me please, movies can't do them justice, although I admit the latest attempt was pretty good, but that's another story) have a special place in my heart. Not only are they some of my favorite books ever, but I remember my dad reading them to me and my siblings when I was little. I remember all of us on my parents' bed as he read, I remember him doing special voices and accents for the dwarves, especially Trumpkin, and I remember being on vacation and going into the woods where we sat in a clearing and he read to us from the Chronicles. That last one was particularly great.
For years I've been looking forward to reading them to my own children, and finally I'm doing it. It's wonderful, and I hope she'll want to keep going.
There's one thing that's been driving me crazy for a long time, though. They keep selling them in the wrong order! The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is NOT book 2, it's the first book. I know the original order in which they were sold is not chronological in the timetable of Narnia. But the best stories aren't told starting at the beginning. You start in the middle, and fill in the beginning later, after you already care about the story. Kids aren't stupid, they can handle it. They also don't need the stupid character descriptions that appear at the beginning of each book now.
There's a note on the copyright page in the HarperCollins edition I have that says the books have been renumbered according to the original wishes of the author, C.S. Lewis. If this is true, I'm disappointed in him, and I think he was wrong. I love the original order and find it meaningful. Of course when I bought the box set I reordered them and renumbered with a Sharpie.
Just for the record, the original (and as far as I'm concerned, correct) order is:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle
So there. Anyway, Daughter the First is going to get them in that order.
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