The Land of Narnia
The Land of Narnia: Brian Sibley Explores the World of C. S. Lewis is another book for young Narnia fans. Its cover bears the same yellow “World of Narnia” emblem as A Book of Narnians, it’s the same size, and it’s just as attractively produced. But where A Book of Narnians specifies an audience from 4-8 years old, The Land of Narnia aims at the 9-11 age-range — rightly so, since instead of being picture-centric, it’s text-centric, intended as an introduction to literary study of the Chronicles.
I have mixed feelings about the book. It has some interesting material for children who have already read the Chronicles and feel curious about where, and whom, the stories came from. The Land of Narnia contains biographical information, books Lewis read that may have contributed to his creation of the Chronicles, and a chapter near the end that explains the “hidden story” behind the books. There is also a long section in the middle that summarizes the plots of all the stories. (Why, I wonder… Surely the target audience will have read them already.) It’s illustrated, again, by Pauline Baynes.
It was okay, as far as it went, but a few things bugged me. It does help to acquaint young readers with analysis of the stories, though at times it simplifies the facts too much. There are enough typos to be noticable — misspellings (“Boxon”) and misquotes (“we can mostly truly say…”). Throughout, perhaps in an attempt to make the author more accessible, Lewis is referred to as “Jack” — the name by which his friends knew him, but not his wider audience.
Mostly, I wondered if any children would really be interested. Adults would find The Land of Narnia a quick read and a good basic introduction to the biographical context of the Chronicles, but I’d be surprised if most children weren’t satisfied enough with their own experience of the books to forgo this kind of discussion. We brought it home from the library about a week ago; I got it for me to read for the Narnia Challenge, not as an intended read-aloud. But my 9-year-old hasn’t shown any interest in it when she goes on her nightly hunt for a bedtime reading pile, unlike A Book of Narnians, which she immediately wanted to buy when we first discovered it last year. My own inclination is to let children enjoy the stories without taking them over with discussion and directed study.
