Welcome to another edition of FDL Teen Reads, brought to you by the Teen Advisory Board!
The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
Reviewed by: Hannah Reed, Teen Advisory Board
Genre: Fantasy
Suggested Age: Teens, Kids
What is the book about?: The Magician’s Nephew is the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia. Digory and Polly are sent out of our world with magic rings by Digory’s Uncle Andrew. The first place they visit is sort of like a world-between-worlds. Then, after figuring out how to travel with their rings, they visit Charn, where they meet Queen Jadis. The Queen had destroyed everybody and everything in Charn and when the kids go back to our world, Queen Jadis follows them, wanting to rule our world since there is nothing left of hers. In London, where the children live, The Queen causes nothing but trouble so Digory and Polly get her out of our world as quickly as possible. In the world-between-worlds, the children jump into a random pool, planning to leave Queen Jadis there. They find themselves in an empty world, along with Queen Jadis, Uncle Andrew, a cabby, and his horse. Soon after arriving in the empty world they start to hear singing, then they see The Lion Aslan and as he continues to sing they witness the creation of Narnia. In Narnia, animals talk and trees are alive. Digory pleads with Aslan for something to heal his mother, who is deathly ill. Aslan sends Digory, Polly, and Fledge, who was the cabby’s horse but now talks and has wings, to a garden in the mountains for a golden apple. Digory does not understand how an apple will help his mother, but he does as he is instructed. Upon returning with the apple, Aslan tells Digory to toss it to the river bank, there blossoms an apple tree covered with golden apples. Aslan tells Digory to take an apple off the tree and give it to his mother. Digory, along with Polly and Uncle Andrew, returns to London. Digory rushes to give his mother the apple, and after she eats it, she quickly becomes well again. Digory plants the apple core in the back yard, where it grows into a normal apple tree. After years have passed the apple tree is blown down in a storm, so Digory uses the wood to make a wardrobe.
My Review: The Magician’s Nephew is a very inspiring book. It taught me that it’s okay to have an imagination, as long as you can decipher between what is real and what is imaginary. After I read the book, my mind opened up and I became much more imaginative and creative. I’ve always wanted to be an author but before I read The Magician’s Nephew, I never had the imagination or creativity to write a good story. C.S. Lewis has opened up a whole new world for me. Another reason I love The Magician’s Nephew is because of the tone it was written in. C.S. Lewis wrote the book as if the events he describes have actually happened, and if you open up your imagination, they have happened. The Magician’s Nephew was written to teach kids to use their imaginations. I absolutely love The Magician’s Nephew and all of its characters. It is an amazing read was written by an extraordinary author
Rating: 4/5
About FDL Reads
Welcome to FDL Reads, weekly book reviews from Fondulac District Library. Librarians (and possibly some other guest reviewers) review all types of books, from children’s picture books, young adult favorites, to the latest adult thriller, and share their thoughts each week at fondulaclibrary.org. If the book is owned by Fondulac District Library (or another local library), you’ll see a direct link to the catalog entry and whether or not it is available. If it is checked out or at another local library, you will be able to place a hold as long as you have your library card and PIN numbers. As with any book review, these are our opinions…we disagree amongst ourselves about books frequently. We all have different likes and dislikes, which is what makes the world an interesting place. Please enjoy, and keep on reading!