by C. S. Lewis

 “Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia.”

I’ve chosen the entire Narnia series as my throwback this week. It wasn’t my original idea, but I like it better. Now, you may be asking yourself; “Which Series? Books or films?” well, neither. The films aren’t finished yet and despite Fox doing a good job after Disney’s botch, Disney REALLY botched. As to the books, I think I’ve only read them once or twice. Now what’s left, you ask? Why, that would be the dramatized audio books.

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I was probably listening to them weekly at one point as a child. I love them so much, that I bought them as MP3 files now that I no longer have a tape player. But you can be certain I still have the tapes! I’ve always loved stories, but I’m dyslexic and when I was younger I had more audio books than books. I don’t remember a time I found reading difficult, but I think that’s because I have a terrible memory. I don’t remember a time I read slowly either, but I know I did. For those of you who don’t know the storyline of Narnia here is a brief summary of the series:

The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe
Four children; Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are shipped to the country during the war. They end up in a museum of a house belonging to Professor Kirk, a recluse of an old man who lets his house keeper deal with them. During their time there the youngest, Lucy, finds herself transported to another world. Eventually they all visit the world and fight battles, win wars, liberate Narnia and become Royalty, guided by the Great Lion Aslan. Many years later, after countless adventures, one being The horse and His Boy, set in a neighbouring country, when they’ve grown, they accidentally return home to find themselves children again, as if no time has passed. They tell Kirk of their adventures and not only does he believe them, but they discover he visited Narnia too and was even there for its birth. The magicians Nephew, prequel.

Caspian
A year later, the four children return to Narnia to discover over 1000 years have passed and Narnia needs their help again. It’s been invaded and they need to put the true king back on the throne and wake all the true Narinians once more. (this is where Disney botched the films, it made Peter quite bitter and condescending, a surly adolescent in attitude where as in the audio books and books, they were all noble and high minded about the whole thing [none more so than High King Peter], which made sense considering they were benevolent kings and queens and they were in fact adults in childrens bodies)

Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Edmund and Lucy, along with their vile cousin Eustace are sucked into Narnia to help King Caspian track down some lost Lords, friends of his father. This is set 3 years later for both worlds. They explore unknown lands and Eustace becomes a dragon. When he becomes human, he has become the type of person Narnia produces. Noble and caring. (and here, fox did so well. The outro voice over by Will Poulter [Eustace] really fitted in with the spirit of Narnia)

The Silver Chair
At the end of the summer holidays Eustace returns to his school a changed boy. He now hates it there and escapes from bullies with Jill through a door and into Narnia. This is over 30 or so years later for Narnia, Caspian is dying and his only son has been missing for years. Eustace and Jill, accompanied by Puddleglum, a marshwiggle, travel the length of a far more dangerous Narnia to rescue the prince from the prison he has found himself in.

The Last Battle
As the name suggests this is the end. A false Aslan has come to the land of Narnia, under the control of Narnia’s enemies. They systematically dismantle Narnia and The King calls out to the real Aslan for help. Jill and Eustace turn up to help and the others attempt to return and help. They eventually all find themselves there.

I don’t know what exactly it is I love about this series. Certainly why I love it now is not why I loved it as a child. Perhaps I loved it then because of the magic and how it expanded the world around me, making everything seem large and full of possibility. I love it now because of the characters. They were noble and they did their best. They were ordinary people and Narnia gave them the chance to shine. Narnia will be one of the series any children I may have will grow up with.