The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

1950, 1970 Collier edition
C. S. Lewis
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: A Story for Children
Original price $2.50, purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
B+

This is the best children's book, or indeed any book I own, in almost a decade, the first sign that the 1950s will be better than the 1940s.  To begin with, the illustrations are good.  It was the sort of Yellow-Submarinish cover art that originally drew me in, but the tiny art for the chapter headings by Baynes, with their surprising amount of detail and characterization, helped keep me going.

There's also the cosiness of the writing.  That may seem an odd word to apply to a book where a charming yet evil witch has made it always winter but never Christmas.  Lewis has a very chatty style, often addressing the reader as "you," in a much less condescending way than Bronte in Jane Eyre.  Also, the descriptions of the homes of Mr. Tumnus and the beavers sound very inviting.  Even the description of Rumblebuffin, the good giant, is warm and down to earth.

Of course, this is also a story of battle, where Peter and Edmund must prove themselves in different ways.  Lewis says that girls and women fighting in war is an ugly thing, which would be news to Glinda and her army, although Narnia is admittedly a much more violent place than Oz.

As a child raised by an atheist, I remember feeling betrayed when I found out that the Narnia books were Christian parables.  I thought that was very sneaky of Lewis, compared to Wilder, who simply was a Christian as part of being a 19th-century pioneer.  By the third or fourth reading, then in my teens, I didn't mind, except for the heavy-handed last book, appropriately called The Last Battle. 

The penultimate book, The Magician's Nephew, is a prequel, and explains why the Professor isn't surprised by the children's tales of Narnia.  I think this book works fine as a stand-alone though.  And as an advert for Turkish Delight.