The Chronicles of Narnia

[TARfan_Carrie]

I am embarassed to say that I have never read any of these books, but would like to now. My 4-year old loves to have "chapter" books read to him, but I have no idea how scary or mature these books are. Any advice?

[Lucy]

I loved those books from a young age, but it was the age at which I could read to myself. I think they might be a bit much for a four-year old -- for one thing, I'd say they're too complicated. For another, there are battles and things that might be scary to some kids, even though it's all done in a fantasy setting and I think it's probably less scary when it's a centaur dying in battle than a person.
I don't want to scare you off the series, I truly love these books and would want every child to read them. Maybe you could go ahead and get them, and read them yourself?

[lildago]

I agree with Lucy. I also read them as a child when I when I was old enough to read myself. There is alot there that may be too much for a 4yo to grasp.

[JLuvs]

I have read the whole entire series and also wrote my disertation on The Chronicles of Narnia

My Mum read the whole series to my brother and I when I was about six and they have been my favorite books ever since.

[TARfan_Carrie]

Thanks for the insight!

[giz]

There is a prettily illustrated and annotated version of The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. It's probably for about 6 and up. In regards to the chapter books though, everyone's right and it is too much for little ones. Too complicated, occasionally too violent, and they are too young to appreciate it!

[Bearcata]

From what I have been hearing from the critics, they say the movie is Lord of the Rings for kids. There are battles and fights but not gore and blood. Even they are saying parents becareful of how old your kids are before they see it. But I remember reading the book when I was I kid I had to have been around 7 or 8 but I don't remember anything too graphic, but reading is different from watching the movie. I gues it depends how graphically your mind paints the authors words.

[lambikins]

I am embarassed to say that I have never read any of these books, but would like to now. My 4-year old loves to have "chapter" books read to him, but I have no idea how scary or mature these books are. Any advice?

TARfan: I'd start to read the CoN in the sequential order, starting with The Magician's Nephew. That's pretty unviolent, and I just read it, again, a month ago, so my memories pretty good.

One of the very things that C.S. Lewis is criticized for, vs. his friend J.R.R. Tolkein, is that Lewis let YOU fill in quite a few of the 'blanks' in his story. He'd say, in scenes, (paraphrased)," ...and if you've never been to Narnia, it's so difficult to explain, so you just have to take my word for it, how "________" the fruit/battle/pain/castle was." Even in the film, which I've see three times already, ALL injuries were shown off screen, meaning, you'd see the knife or whatever thrust forward, you'd see the pain on someone's eyes, and then no blood. It was your imagination that filled in the rest.

My nieces, now age 17, 14, and 11 were read CoN by both me and their mom from early, early on. They gravitated toward what they were interested in: Emily, a modern-day Joan of Arc, loved the battles; Carolyn loved the imaginary creatures, and Cora, the youngest, loved the description of the scenery and food. No one was scared or had nightmares, but that was these kids and everyone is different.

There's plenty of books in the complete Narnia that you can read your 4 year old that shouldn't cause problems.

[Fantine]

I actually just finished reading the entire 7 books and I really enjoyed them.
I've read Lord of the Rings too and didn't think they were anything alike other then being fantasy. Both are excellent books, Narnia tends to be more moralistic imo but that didn't bother me. I love the fact that any age would love these books, I'm looking forward to reading them to my grandkids.

[phat32]

I'm about halfway in the series, currently reading Prince Caspian. It's...good. I like how Lewis kept the concept of Narnia fresh as the series progressed, and how the returns to Narnia seem both believable and--I hesitate to use this work to describe a work of fantasy--logical.

I was completely captivated by The Horse and His Boy, although I think the anti-Islam message could not have been more blatant and detracted from my enjoyment of what was otherwise a very good fantasy tale.

One of the very things that C.S. Lewis is criticized for, vs. his friend J.R.R. Tolkein, is that Lewis let YOU fill in quite a few of the 'blanks' in his story. He'd say, in scenes, (paraphrased)," ...and if you've never been to Narnia, it's so difficult to explain, so you just have to take my word for it, how "________" the fruit/battle/pain/castle was."

Hilarious and oh so true! I hear Lemony Snickett's voice every time I run across a passage like that in Lewis's work.