Sunday, March 17, 2013

Book 12: The Magician's Nephew

The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis is book 1 of the Chronicles of Narnia series.  Digory and Polly accidentally find themselves in the study of Digory's eccentric Uncle Andrew, who fancies himself a great magician.  He gives Polly a magic ring, and she instantly disappears.  Digory is horrified both at her disappearance and at the fact that Uncle Andrew had deliberately tricked her, but he sees no other option than to take another set of the rings and go after Polly.  They find themselves in a quiet wood, which contains many ponds that are gateways into different worlds, so they mark the pool that leads to their own world and try exploring another one.  The new world contains a very large, red sun and the ruins of an ancient city.  In one room, they come across a series of what appear to be wax figures and a table with a bell and hammer.  On striking the bell, Digory wakes up the tallest and fiercest looking female, a witch who had once been queen of the world but had destroyed every living thing rather than allow her sister to take the throne.  Digory and Polly try to get away, but the witch grabs onto Polly and returns with them back to London where she creates plenty of trouble despite the fact that her magic no longer works.  In trying to return the witch to her own world, Polly and Digory accidentally bring along Uncle Andrew, a cabby, and his horse but instead of ending up in Charn they find themselves in the land of Narnia at its moment of creation by the song of the lion Aslan.  Since Digory is responsible for bringing the evil witch into the land, Aslan sends him to fetch an apple from a very special tree that when planted will protect the land from the witch for many years to come.  On reaching the garden, Digory again encounters the witch, who tempts him to take the fruit back into his own world to heal his mother, who is dying. 

An excellent book that I would consider a must read classic for all ages.  It is written at a reading level of age 8 and up.  My library also has the books themselves on tape as well as dramatized radio versions of the series, which my kids have enjoyed from as young as 4 years old or so.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Book 11: The Children of Green Knowe

The Children of Green Knowe by Boston is an interesting children's book set in the English countryside.  Young Toseland is invited to spend his Christmas holidays with his maternal grandmother in her castle home called Green Knowe.  As most boys would naturally do, Toseland spends part of his time exploring the house, the stables, and the grounds of the property; but he is most interested in a portrait hanging in the main room of a grandmother, mother, and three children (two boys and a girl) who had lived in the home during the 17th century and died from the Black Plague.  During the evenings, his grandmother tells him stories about each of the children.  Tolly soon finds out that the children still love to come to Green Knowe as he hears their laughter, spies them in a mirror, and finds them surrounded by their animal friends once morning under a snow covered tree.

I read this one aloud to my 8yo DS.  To be honest neither of us cared much for the idea of the ghosts of the children still playing at Green Knowe.  The stories about the children are quite interesting and are probably the most interesting part of the book.  It was a nice story, but not a favorite at least for us.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Book 10 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

It's been years since I'd read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain, so I decided I'd better give it a quick reread before discussing it with my 11yo DD.

Tom Sawyer is a mischievous boy being raised by his aunt in a Mississippi River town.  He's the typical rough and tumble adventurous type who would rather be in the woods than in school, can lick every boy in town, and is looked up to as a natural leader.  He convinces the neighborhood boys to part with their "treasures" in order to whitewash his aunt's fence for him and trades his gains for enough Sunday school tickets to earn a Bible without suffering the hassle of memorizing all the Scripture verses normally required.  After Becky, the girl he likes, gets angry with him, he decides to run away to a nearby island with two other boys to play pirates for a few days.  They return just in time for their own funeral.  Still Tom also has a more noble side with a strong conscious as well.  He takes the blame and the accompanying whipping from the schoolteacher in place of Becky after she accidentally rips a page in the teacher's book, and he saves the life of Muff Potter by taking the stand to explain that the murder he was accused of was actually committed by Injun Joe.  He and Huck Finn make their fortune finding a treasure chest that Injun Joe had discovered and taken from an abandoned house, and afterwards Tom convinces Huck that he should return to the widow's house to live where he is well taken care of in order to be part of Tom's gang of gentlemen robbers.

This is definitely a must read classic tale of fun for ages 10 and up (although I might wait an extra year or so for my mischievous boys so that they don't pick up any new ideas).