The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

I absolutely, 100% love the Narnia books. I read them dozens of times as a kid, all seven of them. So I am shocked to realize that I've never read them in all the time I've been writing on this blog or keeping track of my reading on Goodreads. I'd never rated them on Goodreads! I keep being surprised by the books I've overlooked on there.

I had the BEST time this month reading the Narnia books with the boys. There is nothing more magical than the first chapter of this book, where Lucy opens the wardrobe door and finds the magical land of Narnia in the back of the wardrobe. I realize now that this story was foundational in much of my imaginary worlds that I would write about and build as a kid--my heroes were always finding secret hiding places in closets or in the woods (that story comes from the Boxcar Children). The very idea of a whole world being hidden somewhere so simple as a wardrobe is so fantastic and wonderful and amazing that it has to be something that every child dreams about and half-hopes for, even after they really know that it won't happen.

I love the rest of the story as well, and the four Pevensie children and their qualities, and I loved seeing the boys get into this story. They loved the first chapter, then felt like it was a little slow in the middle, but once Santa Claus came up and gave them their presents, and the battle with the Witch started to heat up, they were TOTALLY into it and made me read the last three chapters all in one night to finish it off, and begged for me to read the next Narnia book for our next chapter book together. I am of course happy to oblige. There are some books and series that I can't help but want to share with our kids, and this is one of them... I would be so sad if they didn't fall in love with these stories the way I did. On to Prince Caspian next!