The Magician's Nephew by C S Lewis Series: The Chronicles of Narnia #1
Publisher: HarperTrophy (1955)
Paperback (202 pages)
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2015 Re-Reading, Read 2015
Synopsis
When Digory and Polly are tricked by Digory’s peculiar Uncle Andrew into becoming part of an experiment, they set off on the adventure of a lifetime. What happens to the children when they touch Uncle Andrew’s magic rings is far beyond anything even the old magician could have imagined.
Hurtled into the Wood between the Worlds, the children soon find that they can enter many worlds through the mysterious pools there. In one world they encounter the evil Queen Jadis, who wreaks havoc in the streets of London when she is accidentally brought back with them. When they finally manage to pull her out of London, unintentionally taking along Uncle Andrew and a coachman with his horse, they find themselves in what will come to be known as the land of Narnia.
Find the book: Goodreads
This is, chronologically, the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia. It tells the story of how Digory and Polly discover a new world on the day of its creation. This novel answers some of the questions regarding the beginning of Narnia: how the Witch came to Narnia and why the wardrobe can take Lucy to Narnia.
This was a reread for me. I read all of The Chronicles of Narnia when I was in elementary school and I still love them. I picked this novel as one of a number of choices that I gave my students for a novel study. To my delight, this was one of their selections.
When we finished reading The Magician’s Nephew, I asked my students to write what they thought of the book. The following quotes are from their writings. I did correct spelling but not grammar in these.
Some of them do contain spoilers. I will hide the ones that do in spoiler tags (I don’t think they work on the emails though).
Which Reading Challenges?
- You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
- Hard-Core Rereading Challenge
It seems like your students really liked the book. Is The Magician’s Nephew your favorite book in the Narnia series?
It took me a little later in life to get to them (I just read them over the summer, actually), but I loved them all. I think my favorite is The Last Battle because of its larger significance for Christians. It was the hardest one for me to read, though.
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My students loved the book. A few of them want to finish the series now. I’m glad they liked the book so much.
My favorite would probably be a tie between Voyage on the Dawn Treader and The Last Battle.