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.