"I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis."
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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A door in a wardrobe that is not what it seems to be, leading to a world outside our own. A hooved, inhuman creature watching from behind a lamppost - a dark silhouette on the newly fallen snow. Smoke billowing up from a roaring train winding its way around the deserted bend of a lonesome countryside. Wolves, gnashing their teeth, dark glowing eyes, a foreboding feeling rising up to your throat. An evil witch, dark incantations, and amongst all that….peace, tranquility, a calming, strong presence. A feeling that no matter how dark and lonely the path, a presence that is bigger than it all goes before you and behind you, blocking the forces of evil. Mythical creatures, both evil and good, battling for their country. Brave, strong warriors; not just male but female, slaying dragons and evil in many forms. Chivalry is very much alive here.
What in the world, or more fittingly, not of this world, am I talking about? If you are familiar with the works of C.S. Lewis and his Narnia books, you already guessed, probably from the first sentence. This series is probably Lewis' most famous works, at least in the genre of children's stories. I read them aloud to my daughter every afternoon in her formative years, and I credit them with the fantastic imagination she has today. Lewis had an incredible gift of painting pictures with words into the minds of his readers. The text seemed to come alive and leap from the pages into color and form just as real as watching it on a screen. His books were filled with just enough illustrations to spark your imagination into making up the rest, a skill that fine-tunes the mind and makes way for all sorts of future adventures.
Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, whose films are based on classic or award-winning children's literature, produced the making of a couple of wonderful movies based on the books, The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Prince Caspian. I drug one of them out this weekend and took a trip back to those wonderful days of imagining. Fantasy and suspense were not all these great stories held, they were likened to opening a treasure box with elements so beyond your imagining you stand awestruck at the wonder held within. As the stories unfold, your soul awakens with a joy you did not remember was there, as though it has been hidden away, covered by a protective coating placed to guard against the hard, prickly stories, the angry winds of which you have fashioned armor to stand against. No protective gear needed here, however. Your soul feels freed from an iron-clad cell; free to soar and bring you to places you remember, perhaps from your own childhood – places of family and precious time shared, where truths were taught and stories shared.
If you have never read any of these awesome books, grab one and read it aloud with your family. These books are available in any of the major bookstore chains as they are classic and timeless, and a treasured genre of many families. But beware, once you unlock the treasure they hold, you will be spellbound and sucked into the magic!
