While the Netflix adaptation of Narnia has been pushed back to February 2027, Friends of Narnia will have at least to brand new adaptations of The Magician’s Nephew to look forward to adding to their personal libraries.
The first is a brand-new picture book, illustrated by Thai My Phuong, slated to hit shelves on July 21, 2026.
According to the official product description, available on Harper Collins.com,
“A picture book retelling of C. S. Lewis’s classic story The Magician’s Nephew, abridged for the youngest fans! Introduce readers to the magic of Narnia with this all-new picture book featuring illustrations by Thai My Phuong”
The second release is a board book, illustrated by Joey Chou, who delighted audiences with his gentle adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the books Narnia: Animals, and Narnia: A Counting Book, slated to hit shelves in September 2026.
According to the Harper Collins Product Description, it’s billed as,
“A gentle board book retelling of C. S. Lewis’s beloved classic, The Magician’s Nephew, perfect for story time with the youngest readers! This is a story about something that happened long ago, when the land of Narnia first began. It all started with two children, some magical rings, and a lion . . .”
Despite solicitations for the books referencing the upcoming cinematic adaptation coming to Netflix from director Greta Gerwig, a quick glance at the illustrations both for the children’s picture book and the board book reveal Digory and Polly owe more to their original literary counterparts then their upcoming celluloid incarnations.
To me this is smart planning as the goal of these sorts of books is to serve as introductions to the original novel for younger readers, not the movie. The world of Narnia isn’t a stranger to this as in 2004, a year before the Walden Media release of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe say the release of a children’s illustrated picture book by Tudor Humphries while in 2007, we saw the release of The Return to Narnia: The Rescue of Prince Caspian illustrated by Sarah Armstrong that adapted Prince Caspian.
I look forward to not only reading these books to my nieces and nephews but sharing my official reviews with you. You can bet your Telmarine Dubloons that they are sure to have a welcome place in my library.
You can preorder the books here and here.
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