Prince Caspian
Reason Book was Chosen:
I've never read through the entire Chronicles of Narnia series. It's time to remedy that. I may read some of these to my daughters as part of the reading project.My Thoughts
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy return to Narnia, beckoned by Susan’s horn, which is blown by Prince Caspian’s crew. It’s been hundreds or thousands of years since the four were kings and queens in Narnia. There is talk of Old Narnia, yet few who believe the tales. Prince Caspian’s nurse and tutor are two who do believe.
I had two favorite parts of this book. The first is when Lucy wakes in the middle of the night and hears the voice of Aslan. She’s not sure who it is at first, but when she wakes, she sees trees dancing together. And despite how amazing and mesmerizing that is, Lewis says:
“…she was only have interested in them (the trees). She wanted to get beyond them to something else; it was from beyond them that the dear voice had called.”
Having read some of Lewis’ non-fiction / apologetics books, it’s neat to see those ideas show up in the Narnia series. This is one of those ideas – that despite the beauty we may encounter on this earth through art, nature, our lover, or music, it’s not those things that we truly want, but something that those things speak to on a deeper level.
My second favorite part was when Susan, Lucy, Aslan, and others come across a school in Narnia:
“The first house they came to was a school: a girl’s school, where a lot of Narnian girls, with their hair done very tight and ugly tight collars round their necks and thick tickly stockings on their legs, were having a history lesson. The sort of “History” that was taught in Narnia under Miraz’s rule was duller than the truest history you ever read and less true than the most exciting adventure story.”
This Narnia series speaks of a history that is more exciting than the truest history and more true than most adventure stories.
