#28: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe & Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

We did it! Archie, Teddy and I read our first chapter books together. It was so much fun. All my dreams came true as they hung on every word.

Ha, who am I kidding? They did puzzles, wrestled, played with blocks or looked at other picture books while I read. Long explanations such as the origin of the White Witch or the history of the Telmarines didn't keep their attention. They were motivated to finish because I told them we'd watch the movies once we finished the books. My kids love movies and it was the perfect incentive.

The audiobooks also helped! We'd listen during our 15 minute drive to and from school (back when we were going to school). It would go like this:
-Start the audiobook.
-Listen for 60-90 seconds.
-Pause audiobook.
-Me: "Archie do you know what's happening?"
-Archie (everytime): "No."
-Spend 30-60 seconds explaining what is going on.
-Ask follow up questions to check for understanding.
-Repeat.
It was slow progress, but it was still progress. Combine that with a chapter here and there at bedtime and we finished Lion Witch Wardrobe in about a week. Prince Caspian took about twice as long.

Both books were fun for me to revisit and I enjoyed telling my sons about the bravery of the children and the nobility of Aslan. We had good discussions about the spite of Edmund, the empty promises of the witch, and the loyalty of Lucy. Nikabrik trusting darkness rather than light also provided worthwhile discussion fodder. Overall, I'm glad we read these and we will continue the series with Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Notice that I'm reading them in the proper order: By publish date. None of this chronology nonsense.

And then we watched the movies, which are pretty epic. I actually like Prince Caspian. They came out before Disney mastered photorealistic animals so Aslan looks cartoon-y. The child acting leaves much to be desired, although it does improve movie to movie. It is a little too violent for 5 and 3 year old boys. While bloodless, the creatures are still killing each other. So after watching them, I'm not sure the benefit of Archie knowing what a wardrobe is outweighs the drawback of him daily putting on his armor, declaring he is King Peter, and attacking Teddy with a plastic sword.

Have you read the series with your kids? What ages and how did it go?
Thanks for reading,
Kyle