The Man Who Created Narnia

The life of the scholar and author who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia for children and other stories which all have an underlying foundation in Christianity.

A lyrical nonfiction picture book about the inspired life of C. S. Lewis, the beloved author of the Chronicles of Narnia—from Free as a Bird author-illustrator Lina Maslo. Perfect for fans of The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown and Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White. As a child, Clive Staples Lewis imagined many things . . . heroic animals and knights in armor and a faraway land called Boxen. He even thought of a new name for himself—at four years old, he decided he was more of a Jack. As he grew up, though, Jack found that the real world was not as just as the one in his imagination. No magic could heal the sick or stop a war, and a bully’s words could pierce as sharply as a sword. So Jack withdrew into books and eventually became a well-known author for adults. But he never forgot the epic tales of his boyhood, and one day a young girl’s question about an old family wardrobe inspired him to write a children’s story about a world hidden beyond its fur coats . . . a world of fauns and queens and a lion named Aslan. A world of battles between good and evil, where people learned courage and love and forgiveness. A magical realm called Narnia. And the books he would write about this kingdom would change his life and that of children the world over. Share this magical nonfiction picture book at home or in the classroom.

Finding Narnia is Caroline McAlister and Jessica Lanan's captivating picture book biography of two brothers, Jack and Warnie Lewis, whose rich imaginations led to the creation of the magical world of Narnia. Before C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, he was a young boy named Jack who spent his days dreaming up stories of other worlds filled with knights, castles, and talking animals. His brother, Warnie, spent his days imagining worlds filled with trains, boats, and technology. One rainy day, they found a wardrobe in a little room next to the attic, and they wondered, What if the wardrobe had no end? Years later, Jack began to think about what could be beyond that wardrobe, and about a girl named Lucy and her siblings. This picture book biography introduces the beloved creator of The Chronicles of Narnia to a new generation of children who see hidden magic in the world around them.

Michael Coren, an expert on the life ; and writings of Lewis, ; presents an engrossing biography for young people and ; adults of the man "who created Narnia". Following the ; publicity of the first of several theatrical major feature ; films from Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, this ; biography, lavishly illustrated with numerous photos from ; the whole life of Lewis, is written in a captivating way ; that it will appeal to all ages, youth and adults alike. ; Starting with "Beginnings", Coren tells of the fascinating ; details of the childhood and youth of Lewis, one that was, ; in Lewis's own words full of "long corridors, attics ; explored in solitude, sunlit rooms and endless books". It ; continues with his studies at Oxford, his subsequent ; celebrated teaching career at Oxford, his wonderful ; friendships with other great writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, ; Charles Williams, and George Sayer, his meeting and ; marriage with Joy Davidman, and how he dealt with the ; sorrow of her death. The book especially focuses on how ; Lewis created his wonderful Narnia tales which became seven ; books that resulted in perhaps the most widely read set of ; children's Christian allegories, The Chronicles of ; Narnia.

Grade level: 9, 10, 11, 12, e, i, s.

Published in the early 1950s, C. S. Lewis's seven Chronicles of Narnia were proclaimed instant children's classics and have been hailed in The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature as "the most sustained achievement in fantasy for children by a 20th-century author." But how could Lewis (a formidable critic, scholar, and Christian apologist)conjure up the kind of adventures in which generations of children (and adults) take such delight? In this engaging and insightful book, C. S. Lewis expert David C. Downing invites readers to join his vivid exploration of the Chronicles of Narnia, offering a detailed look at the enchanting stories themselves and also focusing on the extraordinary intellect and imagination of the man behind the Wardrobe. Downing presents each Narnia book as its own little wardrobe - each tale an opportunity to discover a visionary world of bustling vitality, sparkling beauty, and spiritual clarity. And Downing's examination of C. S. Lewis's personal life shows how the content of these classic children's books reflects Lewis's love of wonder and story, his affection for animals and homespun things, his shrewd observations about human nature, along with his vast reading, robust humor, theological speculations, medieval scholarship, and arcane linguistic jokes. A fun glossary of odd and invented words will allow readers to speak with Narnian flair, regaling friends and family with unusual words like cantrips, poltoonery, hastilude, and skirling. A masterful work that will appeal to both new and seasoned fans of Narnia, Into the Wardrobe offers a journey beyond Narnia's deceptively simple surface and into its richly textured and unexpected depths.

Enchanted by Narnia's fantastic world as a child, prominent critic Laura Miller returns to the series as an adult to uncover the source of these small books' mysterious power by looking at their creator, Clive Staples Lewis. What she discovers is not the familiar, idealized image of the author, but a more interesting and ambiguous truth: Lewis's tragic and troubled childhood, his unconventional love life, and his intense but ultimately doomed friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien. Finally reclaiming Narnia "for the rest of us," Miller casts the Chronicles as a profoundly literary creation, and the portal to a lifelong adventure in books, art, and the imagination.