Hi, everybody welcome back to Tumnus’ Bookshelf where we review any and all books written by, about and inspired by CS Lewis, the Land of Narnia and the Inklings. For today’s review we will be looking at The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Picture Book Edition.)
Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Picture Book Edition.)
Adapted by: Hiawyn Oram
Illustrated by: Tudor Humphries
Based on the novel The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN-10: 0060556501
ISBN 13: 9780060556501
Summary:
CS Lewis’ beloved classic The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe comes alive for younger readers in this adaptation. Journey with Lucy and her siblings as they travel through a wardrobe and into the enchanted land of Narnia. Follow them as they encounter Mr. Tumnus the Faun, the friendly beavers, and the majestic Lion, Aslan, the true master of Narnia as they help break the spell of the evil White Witch. Coupled with wonderful illustrations by Tudor Humphries, this book is an excellent gate way for young readers.
Read a full synopsis and review of the original book here.
Review:
A year ago I gave a friend of mine a DVD copy of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe as a Christmas present. To their great surprise her young son (who is three) loved the movie. This got me wondering if there was a suitable adaptation of the book to give him. The movie adaptation is good, but it is still adapted from the screen play which was adapted from the book. Deborah Maze’s Land of Narnia series that adapted The Lion,The Witch, and the Wardrobe into four children’s books was exquisite, series skews for readers older than three. The Best Loved Classics Library as a beautiful edition but it is only in print in Great Britain and as such is more of a collector’s item, making it out of the price range for gift giving.
That was when I rediscovered this adaptation of Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I had encountered this book almost ten years ago when the first movie came out, but ignored it, largely due to the fact that at that time I wasn’t looking into picture books anymore. However, now I’m at a stage in my life where friends, cousins and siblings are getting married and starting families of their own. With young children there has to be a way to introduce them to great literature and help spark their imaginations just enough to pull them from the video games.
To that end, I will be reviewing this book in the context that it is an adaptation for children and judging it on the merits of whether or not it accomplishes the goals of the author, namely does it tell the same fun, engaging story we have grown to love at a level they can understand. Having read through it several times, I can give a resounding “yes” .
No children’s book, especially one that is a fairy tale, would be complete without illustrations. Like a great score in a movie, illustrations are the life blood of the story and without them, it would fall flat. The land of Narnia has had plenty of great artists who have brought the book to life through pictures, including Deborah Maze, Chris Van Allsburg’s covers for the editions of the books released in the late 90’s, Robin Laurie’s work on the graphic novels of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and The Magician’s Nephew, and of course the irreplaceable Pauline Baines original covers and illustrations for the books. For this book, artist Tudor Humphries manages to perfectly capture the magic, awe and wonder of the Land of Narnia with pictures that would have been right at home in an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.
Hiawyn Oram does a commendable job adapting the original novel into a bed-time story book for younger children. Adapting a 224 page novel into a 24 page children’s book means that inevitably there will be cuts made to help make the story more palpable for little kids and as such many details that would be more difficult for children to understand are omitted. For example since a vast majority of children don’t learn anything about World War II until they are in school the Air Raids are not mentioned. Further, Professor Kirke’s trilema is also missing, mainly as a small child will probably have no interest in logical arguments.
The book is structured in a way that while it does focus mainly on the narrative arcs of Edmund and Lucy, while at the same time still allowing Peter and Susan their time to shine in their memorable moments from the original story. Long-time fans would be relieved to know that the moment that is most important to friends of Narnia, Aslan’s sacrifice for Edmund, is left intact. This allows the book to stay true to the spirit of Lewis’ beloved classic in a clear, concise fashion.
Parents sharing the book with them will still be able to see the symbolism they have come to love about Narnia, but kids will appreciate it as a magical fantasy adventure. For those littlest future friends of Narnia this book is sure to become a favorite bedtime story, and is destined to be an excellent gateway into a lifetime of adventure in the land of Narnia, and perhaps into the rest of the works of CS Lewis. There can be no better present for a young child then their very own book about Narnia. As my friend told me in a thank you note,
“Thank you for the book for C… He was excited when he opened it and he recognized that it was the same story from the movie.”
If the young children in your life are anything like my friend’s son, then they may get the same thrill too.
Five out of Five shields.
Order the book from Amazon.com
The greater the story, the more ways there are of telling it in a compelling way.
Thanks for this review.
The 10th anniversary of the release of the film of the book is coming shortly. I wonder if this movie can be re-released this Christmas and perhaps in 3-D should this help improve the story.
Do you have an Amazon link for this?