Hey, everybody! Welcome back to Tumnus’ Bookshelf, where we review any and all books by and about CS Lewis. Today, we will be looking at the biography CS Lewis: Author of Mere Christianity, from the Lives of Faith Series.
Title: The Lives of Faith Series: CS Lewis: Author of Mere Christianity
Author: Sam Wellman
Publisher: Chelsea House Publications (July 1998)
ISBN-10: 0791050327
ISBN-13: 978-0791050323
Summary:
The Lives of Faith Series is a collection of biographies written about prominent Christians from the Reformation era to 20th centuries. CS Lewis: Author of Mere Christianity, is a quick paced, but well written look at the life of CS Lewis that is suitable for young children who wish to know more about the author of their favorite fantasy world: the Land of Narnia.
Review:
One problem with most biographies is sometimes the details of one’s life may not always be suitable for children. For example if you like listening to the music of Johnny Cash and share it with your children ( grandchildren as my grandparents did with me) it may be best to have them wait until high school to read anything about him. CS Lewis’ life also contains many details unsuitable for children. Even the books written by Douglas Gresham could give a small child nightmares.
CS Lewis: Author of Mere Christianity only briefly alludes to such details. The abuse he endured at school is sanitized, the life style choice of Arthur Greeves is implied, the terrible things Joy Gresham’s first husband did to her and the children are omitted, and Mrs. Moore is a much more benign person , and almost appears as Alice the housekeeper from the Brady Bunch, or Dick Grayson’s aunt in the 1960’s Batman. Also many of the war time atrocities Lewis faced during WWI are cleaned up.
While some may be concerned about how much of the truth is presented in this book, it is safe to say that the over all story of CS Lewis’ life is very much intact. It is told in a very quick, brisk manner, that is fun to read and at a level suitable for children in between 4th grade and 8th grade. While the picture of Jack’s life is a too soft and tame parents will have no problems letting children read this book.
There is also a good deal of dialogue, most of which is fictionalized. More serious fans of Lewis would do better to read any of the biographies written by those who knew him as if they want to hear what Lewis actually said they would know far better. The dialogue is more of an attempt to make the biography more fun and interesting and in that regard it does well, but at the same time it feels forced.
Over all it’s a good starter biography for young people and is a welcome edition to the lives of faith series .It can also provide a good starting point for younger readers when doing research projection Lewis. Also since many of his other books are mentioned it may lead them to wanting to check out things like the Space trilogy, Screwtape Letters and Till We Have Faces ( though wait until they are in High School for that one.)
3 1/2 out of 5 sheilds
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