The Last Battle

The boys' "big" presents for Christmas were in indoor gym set and the boxed set of The Chronicles of Narnia. We've slowly been reading through them since then, and on Monday we finished "The Last Battle." We started reading chapter 4 and just kept going. They didn't want me to stop, and I didn't either. I nearly cried several times.

I read the C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy for the first time when I was in 5th grade. To be honest, I liked the Space Trilogy better then. But of the Narnia books, my favorite were "The Magician's Nephew" and "The Last Battle." The beginning and the end.

But these books were so much different for me now, reading them aloud to my children. I'm trying to put it into words, but I just can't right now. The past six months of reading the Narnia books, though, have definitely been building strong memories for me.

By the way, they've announced the cast for the new movie of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." If they are able to pull of the Narnia films as well as Peter Jackson did the LOTR, we'll be very pleased. The movie is set to release December 2005.

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Tracked on July 15, 2004 04:39 AM

Comments

Ooo I loved The Last Battle! I loved parts of all of them really. I re-read them, for myself (not to my kids!) a few years ago, and they really touched my heart.
Posted by: Jordan at July 15, 2004 08:05 PM

I very much appreciated them in a different way than I did when I was younger. I'm looking forward to rereading the Space Trilogy, too.
Posted by: TulipGirl at July 16, 2004 12:17 AM

Wow, I'm impressed. You read the Lewis Space Trilogy in 5th grade? I wrote my high school senior English term paper on the trilogy and I found "That Hideous Strength" to be pretty rough sledding.
Posted by: Lee Anne Millinger at July 16, 2004 03:40 PM

If I remember correctly, I read the entire series to my boys; I read them for myself before that and want to re-read -- whenever I finish a few more from my long list.
I know that the boys heard at least some of them read by their 4th,5th,6th grade teacher at their Christian elementary school. I was a kdgt-first classroom/office volunteer and sometimes in passing Mr. Young's room would hear him reading aloud. He read with such great expression; his R-O-A-R could make you jump! I'm sure my boys will never forget.
Posted by: FLGrandma at July 16, 2004 04:29 PM

Lee Anne, I'm sure that as a child, a lot of the Space Trilogy went over my head. Even rereading the Narnia books, I appreciated them more fully.

FL Grandma! Good to see you! A friend of mine who was h/sing was going through the Narnia books with her children. She put them in the local public school about a year ago (mid-year) and the teacher was using those books as the basis for a long unit study--and borrowed lots of ideas from my friend. *grin*

Posted by: TulipGirl at July 17, 2004 01:47 PM

Interesting...I just got the Narnia books to read to my kids. My three year old isn't too interested, but my first grader is...somewhat. How early do you think is too early? There are some language issues I'm facing...some Britishisms...that I'm finding may not be understood.
Posted by: Paul at July 18, 2004 09:56 PM

Wow! You buzzed right through to the end. I am into the Last Battle now with my boys. Both The Silver Chair and The Last Battle depict the nature of deception powerfully, IMO. It offers good teachable moments.

Why were The Magician's Nephew and Last Battle your favorites in the series?
Posted by: Jeff Clinton at July 21, 2004 08:38 PM

Hi, Paul!

My three year old didn't listen in much, to be honest. The 5, 6, and 8 year old did, though. I had to stop and explain what was going on from time to time, though. (Especially for my 6 y/o--I don't think he's an auditory learner, and got frustrated at times wanting to understand and not getting it.) My 8 year old's eyes would sparkle when he caught a glimpse of the images of Christ. It did provide a lot of food for discussion, though. We'll definitely be rereading it in the future, and I think they'll get more each time.

Another one they really like is Helen Taylor's adaption of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." It's one of their favorite books (In fact, they've been begging me to reread it. Again!) And while the writing isn't quite as beautiful as Lewis's, the imagery is still very moving. There are some things that bring up difficult subjects, but I think most Christian parents can find a way to address them with the delicacy that fits their kids.

Yep, Jeff--I think the marathon read through the Last Battle was the most I've ever read aloud in one day. (Reading aloud makes me sleepy. . .) We really enjoyed it--very much memories to treasure. And it's fun watching their pretend games incorporate more of Narnia.
Posted by: TulipGirl at July 21, 2004 10:43 PM

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