I finished reading Prince Caspian aloud to my girls one day last week. I wanted to participate in Carrie’s Narnia Challenge, but I have so much on my plate right now, I knew I wouldn’t have time to read one of the Narnia books myself. I decided to pick up with my girls where we left off last year and read Prince Caspian. My real goal was to get to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for my own benefit since the movie is coming out later this year. I’m sort of obsessive about some things (ha!), and I couldn’t countenance skipping a Narnia book, even though my girls are only 4 and 6, so read Prince Caspian we did.
Prince Caspian seemed a little less accessible to my young audience to me than Wardrobe did. I’m not sure why–perhaps it is the martial atmosphere that pervades this book. That is not to say that they didn’t enjoy it. On the contrary, they never wanted to quit reading it. I think they followed the plot fairly well. Lulu seemed to understand the conflict between Caspian and Miraz, while Louise had a hard time keeping the characters straight. (I’m beginning to really believe that while Lulu is an auditory learner, Louise is more visual. This difficulty of hers in remembering characters sort of confirms this for me. It will be interesting to see how I will have to differentiate my approach to teaching them.) Prince Caspian is not my favorite of the Narnian chronicles, so maybe I’m projecting my own feelings about it onto them when I say that it wasn’t as accessible to them.
Despite the fact that it’s not one of my favorites, Prince Caspian still gets me right in the heart and makes me a little weepy. Of course, the part that gets me is the part where Lucy sees Aslan and no one else does. This:
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
And this:
The Lion looked straight into her eyes.
“Oh, Aslan,” said Lucy. “You don’t mean it was? How could I–I couldn’t have left the others and come up to you alone, how could I? Don’t look at me like that. . . oh well, I suppose I could. Yes, and it wouldn’t have been alone, I know, not if I was with you. But what would have been the good?”
Aslan said nothing.
“You mean,” siad Lucy rather faintly, “that it would have turned out all right–somehow? But how? Please, Aslan! Am I not to know?”
“To know what would have happened, child?” said Aslan. “No. Nobody is ever told that.”
Pure genius.
I love it, but I think we’re going to take a break before reading Dawn Treader. Part of me wants to read it closer to the time the movie will come out, and really, I think I’m ready to tackle an easier read-aloud right now. I have the next three of the Betsy-Tacy books ordered, and I think we might enjoy a bit of Maud Hart Lovelace and her delightful world right now. (Plus, the Maud Hart Lovelace challenge is returning to Library Hospital in October, so I’m just getting a head start!)
A big huge THANK YOU to my bloggy buddy, Carrie, for hosting this awesome Narnia Challenge each year! As much as I love Narnia, I’m not sure that I would make the time every year to read even a little of it. Thanks to her challenge, I’m reminded to do that. Be sure to visit her blog for more Narnia posts!
We’ve read up through “Voyage” aloud but I also bought the audio series from Focus on the Family so that we could listen in the car and my dd could have it on her mp3 player–they’re really good
I’m impressed that you made it through one, really! I know your life is busy and hectic at the moment!
Prince Caspian isn’t my favorite either but I think my view of it is more tainted by the movie now than anything else. (It’s so much easier sometimes to watch the movie than read the book.) But I didn’t like Voyage until I re-read it and really delved into it. So I think each year for the challenge I should look at a different title in the series and see how my opinions of them change or grow as I do. (As Aslan says, He just grows bigger!)
Awesome thoughts and thanks for sharing!
I love it that you’re reading the Narnia books out loud to your children. My mom read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe aloud to me and my siblings when we were in early elementary school (strangely, it’s the only chapter book I remember her reading aloud to us–my older sister quickly took over the “read-aloud” position in the household). That was what sparked my love affair with Narnia.