Personally, I am not particularly enjoying the book, simply because I feel the plot and themes are too simple. If the plot is simple, then the writing should be descriptive and fun to make up for it--this book does not have that balance. Lewis does not to a very thorough job at describing the land of Narnia, or go into great detail about the characters, except in some cases for their appearance. I have had to rely on what I can recall from the movie in order to visualize the characters and settings, and this should not be the case.
As I have been reading, I can't help but notice the religious themes throughout the book. Most obviously, the children are referred to as Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. The White Witch somewhat is a satanic figure, tempting and wishing to do harm to the children. Aslan is depicted as Christ-like character, representing safety and goodness.
It seems that Lewis is only using fantasy to disguise a sermon. I can appreciate children's literature having moral messages, but I feel that the religiousness is a bit overt. I would not necessarily recommend these books, unless parents are sure to explain the themes, and inform the children about the underlying messages throughout the book.
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I kind of agree with you. I think that I am mixed about the book. I respect it simply because I remeber it so well. In about 4th grade we went to the play and then I remeber watching some cartoon on T.V once. So when it came time to read this book I was excited I still remembered it. I wasn't into it very much as a child however, My older brother loved the series and would often put me to bed by reading it to me. We often pretended that out closet would take us to Narnia. Yes we had quite the imaginations. I like that you made reference to the religious themes. Often in literature there is reference to the bible wheather or not it is promoting christianity. I like you refernce that to it being a sermon. In a way it really is. I understand your reason to not recomend this book. It could be delivered in much stronger. I however would recomend this book most likely because it was more than a book for me as a child. We played games with it.
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