We just recieved word today that CS Lewis’s beloved Chronicles of Narniawill soon receive their own “Leatherbound Classics Edition” from Barnes and Noble.  This hardcover volume, will include all seven books in one, and is sure to  be a treasured keepsake for every fan. There is no word on if the books will be featrued in their original publication order or their chronological order. As soon as we can get  further information on the volume, we will let you know.

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Union Station’s newest exhibit and summer sensation for families opens Friday, May 22. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Exhibition is produced by the Becker Group, Ltd., which recently combined operations with Exhibitgroup/Giltspur, in partnership with Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media. Based on the blockbuster film series and C.S. Lewis’ beloved fictional books, the 10,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art entertainment and educational experience offers visitors the opportunity to tour scenes from the famed literary world of Narnia. Through authentic costumes, props and set dressings from the magical Narnia films, visitors will enter a three dimensional world that combines the wonders of science with aspects of fantasy. Tickets are on sale now at unionstation.org.

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Jordan Davis has written an excellent article on C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia for The Nation.  It dives into Laura Miller’s The Magician’s Book, in which she is so deep into her own claimed perspective that she is in constant denial of what she wants to avoid.  He writes:

Born in 1898 to a Belfast solicitor and his mathematics-trained wife, C.S. Lewis, or Jack, as he preferred to be called, was deemed by his tutor for the Oxford entrance exams to have been “born with the literary temperament,” and “while admirably adapted for excellence and probably for distinction in literary matters, he is adapted for nothing else.” It was true. An admirer of Beatrix Potter, young Jack wrote talking-animal novels and came to have hopes of success as a poet. One thing got in the way: he was not a poet. And not, by the way, in the manner in which Ford Madox Ford wasn’t a poet–Ford in his poems lived up to his standard that poetry should be at least as well written as prose. Lewis talked down to himself in his poems; this is the fatal flaw in much of what we know as bad poetry.

Read the rest at The Nation

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In recent years, there have been two different fantasy series that share similarities. They have the same basic plots, the same basic creatures, and so on. Looking at the posters, cases, and trailers, you would think they were very alike, but when you look deeper, you see that they are very different indeed. This fact shows itself through the success of the books and films of their names. (more…)

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It is of common knowledge that both Lewis and Tolkien took part in the First World War, and that in the years following the conflict they became distinguished scholars of the English language and literature at Oxford University. Those who accuse these writers of escapism tend to overlook the fact that such a curriculum vitae would make it virtually impossible for them to remain ignorant of, and not to at least in some way reflect in their own writing, the events that changed the world and the literature in the first half of the twentieth century. This paper aims to offer a new approach to the place of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings in this common context, and also to discuss how these works differ from each other with reference to the way in which they combine Christian and pagan elements.

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A new series of accredited educational programming is now available on DVD from Disney Educational Productions, a division of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

The series, “The Science of Disney Imagineering,” has four titles to help students learn about Trajectory, Gravity, Levers and Pulleys. The lessons demonstrate how these scientific principles apply to thrill rides, roller coasters and other amusement park attractions.

Additional educational products include two new literacy programs based on the C.S. Lewis books The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

All titles are $49.95 and are available at disneyeducation.com as well as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

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We’ve just received the sad news that the original illustrator of The Chronicles of Narnia has just passed away:

Wayne Hammond reports the death of Baynes at her home in Surrey. Pauline Baynes was the original illustrator of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series, as well as of Tolkien’s Farmer Giles of Ham (1948), The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book (1962), and Smith of Wootton Major (1967).

Read more .. Wikipedia Entry

Narnia expert Brian Sibley has written a blog entry about Pauline Baynes that you can read here:

Brian Sibley’s Blog on Pauline Baynes: Queen of Narnia and Middle-Earth

And note that obituaries will be appearing in The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian later in the week.

Kind regards,

Brian Sibley

Update 2:

Rem, from the Philippine Order of Narnians, sent us an update with links to the articles posted athe both the Independent and the Guardian:

I thought you’d like to know that, as Mr Sibley said they would, Pauline Baynes’ obituaries have already shown up at the Independent and the Guardian.

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Eoin Colfer, author of the “Artemis Fowl” novels, has posted a list of his top ten chidren’s books, with “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” landing the number eight spot. Writes Colfer of “Prince Caspian”:

My introduction to the world of fantasy. The first Narnia book that I read, and the one that made the biggest impression.

The number one spot on the list went to Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn.” View the entire list here.

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Welcome to Tumnus’s Book Shelf where we review any and all books related to Narnia and CS Lewis! For this weeks review, we will be looking at The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: Fight For The Throne

Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: The Fight for the Throne.
Based on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Adapted by: JE Bright
Publisher: HarperEntertainment (April 1, 2008)

ISBN-10: 0061231584
ISBN-13: 978-0061231582

Summary of the book:

Late one night in the Telmarine castle in the land of Narnia, Prince Caspian was woken up by his mentor Dr. Cornelius. Caspian’s uncle Miraz had a son, and Caspian had to escape as his uncle was trying to kill him. Before leaving Cornelius gave Caspian a gift, the horn of Queen Susan Pevensie to use to summon the heroes of old.

Fleeing from his Uncle Miraz’s soldiers, Prince Caspian falls into the company of three of the Narnians, Trufflehunter the badger, along with Nikabrik and Trumpkin, two dwarves. Caspian blew the horn to summon the heroes. The three of them were pursued in the woods and Trumpkin was taken captive. Guided by Nikabrik and Trufflehunter, Caspian was led further into the woods where he then meet Reepicheep and other Narnians. They were afraid to trust him at first as they hated the Telmarines because they had stolen their land. He assured them that he would restore Narnia to them if they fought alongside him.

The Narnians agreed and training begun. Sometime during their training Trumpkin returned with the four Pevensies who were only children.SPOILERS! By the urgings of Peter, and despite the protests of Lucy, the Narnians engaged in a futile Night Raid, in which Caspian rescued Cornelius and learned that his uncle Miraz had killed Caspian’s father.

In the process of this night raid many Narnian lives were lost. Nikabrik and some companions of his attempted to convince him to resurrect the White Witch. With the help of the Pevensies he was able to defeat Nikabrik and his two friends.

They at last decided to do the right thing. After sending Lucy out to find Aslan, Peter decided to engage in a duel of single combat with Miraz to by time. Peter won the duel and was given the choice to kill Miraz he refused as it was not his job. To deal out justice He handed over the sword to Caspian who also refused as he would not sink to Miraz’s level. Miraz was then killed by two of his generals and they blamed his death on the Narnians.

A massive battle broke out. The Narnians routed the Telmarine forces to the river where they meet up with Lucy and Aslan. Aslan summoned up the River God and the forces of the Telmarines were defeated. Caspian was crowned king and the Pevensies returned home.END SPOILERS!

Review of the book:

Let’s see if you can follow this. This book, Prince Caspian: Fight for the Throne, is an adaptation of the movie, which is an adaptation of the book Prince Caspian pretty much like most tie-in books dealing with the Narnia books. It’s almost a given fact for a big movie release. With this book, however it does something different. It looks at Prince Caspian’s story through his perspective.

It is meant for readers who are in the early junior high stage. It is meant to be like it were Caspian’s journal so it is written in a very simple, strait forward manner, with no frills attatched to it, much like a journal entry. This, combined with the books choice on limiting the perspective, means that it does not try to be too challenging. The concept itself of telling the story from Caspian’s perspective is interesting and does intrigue a reader enough. However, it also means that many key plot points for the original novel are cut out as it is based on the film.

SPOILERS!Caspian and Peter do butt heads, but on the plus side Peter seems like less of a jerk in this book than he did in the film and more like he’s trying to help free Narnia. This book also does not have the apparition of Jadis appear in the ice or the “kiss that was heard around the world.” In many ways this book flows like a possible fan edit of the film would.END SPOILERS!

The battles are described in detail but they come off as very lethargic. While they are fun to watch on screen they are less enjoyable in print. One becomes grateful that CS Lewis did not focus on battles as much. Readers realize that he knew what he was doing. By not describing the battles in detail he left them for the readers to imagine and choreograph on their own, which when you are reading a book is much more fun than having it spoon feed to you.

There is also much less of Lewis’s symbolism in this book.SPOILERS!The limited perspective features Aslan only briefly at the end and we have no idea what else is going on in the other parts of story, such as with the Pevensies.END SPOILERS!In a small way, the original book’s beauty is taken away and in it’s place is a quick adventure story for adolescent boys to read in between rounds of playing Nintendo Wii. But in another way there is more mystery about Aslan and the Pevensies as no one sees them until they come.

There are no pictures as this is not meant to be a children’s story book. This is a young readers novel. The advantage of this is that it does give the reader more room to imagine what the characters may look like, even though their versions of the Pevensies in their minds may be the ones played by William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley.

Readers may enjoy this book just for the virtue it looks at a favorite story from one characters perspective. However, in reading it there is one thing that must be kept in mind: this book is not a supplemental book, a replacement, or even an introduction to the story. It’s a companion story. It should only be read if readers have first read ( or heard) the original novel by CS Lewis and then seen the movie, other wise there will be huge blanks left to fill.

Prince Caspian: Fight for the Throne has an interesting premise behind it and does make for a good read for a few times. Next to the original book however, this book is merely the Shadowlands: a good reflection for readers of the wondrous world of Narnia.

3 ½ out of 5 shields.

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Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: Caspian’s Army.
Based on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Adapted by: Sadie Chesterfield
Illustrated by: Justin Sweet
Publisher: HarperEntertainment (April 1, 2008)

ISBN-10: 0061231576
ISBN-13: 978-0061231575

Summary of the book:

Fleeing from his Uncle Miraz’s soldiers, Prince Caspian falls into the company of three of the Narnians, Trufflehunter the badger, along with Nikabrik and Trumpkin, two dwarves. Caspian is taken further into the woods, where he meet up with other Narnians, They were afraid to trust him at first as they hated the Telmarines because they had stolen their land. He assured them that he would restore Narnia to them if they fought alongside him. With a magic horn that could summon the heroes of old in hand and his new army, Caspian was ready to began his quest.

Review of the book:

While this may sound like an apples to oranges comparison, this particular book, Caspian’s Army isn’t as good as the other adaptations of the Narnian Chronicles in this particular series. While the illustrations are just as splendid and the retelling of the tale is nicely paced, this story is a bit lackluster, especially after reading the Tail of Reepicheep.

Part of the problem would be that this book functions like a prologue for Prince Caspian as it’s ending is just left dangling. An old writers adage is to leave the reader wanting more, and this book left you wanting a lot more. While this book may be meant for children, I’m not sure if it’s ending would be as satisfying as the Tail of Reepicheep for them. It would be very easy to picture a little kid sitting up in bed after hearing this story and going ,“is that the end?”

The somewhat disappointing ending of the story aside, it isn’t that badly written. It’s still paced fairly well, and it does contain a good bit of dialogue. One of this books strongest features is it’s use of more “challenging” words like “extinct”. While most reading comprehension courses may teach that kids should skip a challenging word and only read what they know, it is far more important for them to be challenged and improve their skills in order to become better readers, and this book would help with that.

The art is still great. The use of the concept art just helps the story so much more than using a still shot form the film which could easily be blurry from the motion in it, and leave the characters looking rather awkward. This style of art just keeps the story going.

If you are looking for a well paced book for young readers that will challenge their vocabulary skills, with great illustrations this book is certainly worth the try. Certainly, the Narniafans that have to have every book, and parents with younger readers, would like having this in their library. However this story is simply “good” but not “great”, and it is almost better to wait until they are older to read the full story of Prince Caspian to them.

3 1/2 out of 5 shields.

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