Narnia In what order should the Chronicles of Narnia be read?

The Chronicles of Narnia
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Is it best to read them in Publication Order or Chronological Order?

Publication Order
  1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  2. Prince Caspian
  3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
  4. The Silver Chair
  5. The Horse and His Boy
  6. The Magician's Nephew
  7. The Last Battle
Chronological Order
  1. The Magician's Nephew
  2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  3. The Horse and His Boy
  4. Prince Caspian
  5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
  6. The Silver Chair
  7. The Last Battle
 
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Pages may differ depending on the book (especially if you have the all-in-one chronicles book), but in my version, it is on p. 46. Just look to the end of chapter 3. It is described right before the last paragraph of that chapter.

MrBob
 
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No prob, Honza.

Shasta, Susan is only a main character in LW&W and PC while she a secondary character in H&HB, only appearing in Calormen. I am sure there are plenty of fanfics of her.
 
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Honza said:
Can you remember on which page of TSC is the reference to TH&HB?
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That reference to HHB in TSC really throws me into a quandary on reading order. For a while I've toyed with reading HHB before TSC, but because the time period between VDT and TSC is just a few weeks of earth time it makes me feel that TSC should come straight after VDT. So then I wonder about putting HHB between PC and VDT, but then that breaks up the Caspian story, or even straight after LWW - perhaps that makes the most sense since HHB takes place during the time of LWW, though I haven't actually tried reading them in that order yet; it feels like it's coming in too early. Maybe in the end it's better to just stick with publication order and put HHB after TSC.

Peeps
 
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Another noticeable thing about the H&HB reference in TSC is that CS Lewis says he does not have the time to tell us the story right now - inferring that it has not already been told. Hence he anticipated that it would be published AFTER the Silver Chair.
 
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Nice catch Honza. It actually would make sense that he would have made that reference after writing H&HB. Since he didn't seem to plan much for future books, a past reference would only make sense if he had already written something.

MrBob
 
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+JMJ

I believe that the first book in the Chronicles that I read (or had read to me) at age 7 was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. My first reading of the series at that age was so long ago that I don't quite remember the order in which I read them after LWW. I'm thinking that I probably read up through The Silver Chair in publication order. However, it had for some time been my firm conviction (especially through my teenage years) that chronological order was the best way to read them (they are called chronicles after all). For one thing, The Magician's Nephew is such a magnificent story that one can hardly go wrong beginning with it. It is in fact in my top two, tied with TSC. Enjoying the backstory of Professor Digory can also set LWW in context. Yet, it is true that, as the forum member above seems to suggest, a certain element of the novelty of LWW might be lost (e.g., the mystery surrounding Aslan or the unexpected magic wardrobe that transports the children into another world). However, the shocking and scheming Uncle Andrew, the rings, the Wood Between the Worlds, Charn, and the creation of Narnia through music can be an even more striking introduction to the series. In some ways, The Horse and His Boy, even though it clearly enjoys a place in the timeline, is a standalone story that can be read at any point. It is an adventure within Narnia that involves no one traveling there from another world. So having reflected on this, I will at this point suggest the following ordering:

1. Magician's Nephew
2. LWW
3. Prince Caspian
4. Voyage of the Dawn Treader
5. TSC
6. The Last Battle

The Horse and His Boy (read at any point).
 
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I was first introduced to the series in 3rd grade, by my teacher. I have owned so many different copies, of the series, over the years. I am currently a 6th grade teacher and we are using TMN in my literature class. I may be wrong, but I thought C.S. Lewis wanted them published in the chronological order after he was finished with the series. When you buy the combined series, in 1 book, it begins with TMN.
 
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They just have each book, and then a title page for the next book, etc. It's nothing all that special, it's just that they're all in one volume.
 
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Well, the books don't really connect at all. The Lord of the Rings is similar, although even easier, because the three books were always meant to be one book. (In fact, if you haven't read it, it's really 6 books... each novel contains 2 of them.)

That said, the Narnia books have so much disconnect between them that they wouldn't have any connective language between them. Plus, the publication order and chronological orders are different, and they weren't changed to chronological order until much later, so Lewis wouldn't have written anything to bridge those gaps.

Have you seen anything like that in any other book series?
 
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