Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Chronicles of Narnia, and ROAR devotional

It has been a long time since I posted anything about what we are reading. Mostly just for the sake of our own memories, I think I will spend a few posts remembering what we have read in the past year. By far, the most memorable was reading aloud the entire Chronicles of Narnia series, by, of course, C.S. Lewis.

I will not even attempt to "review" the Narnia series, there are a multitude of reasons why this is classic literature. Many times I had to continue reading through a lump in my throat as the symbolism of the kingdom of Narnia (symbolically God's Kingdom) and Aslan as it's ruler (Christ the King) had it's effect on me. It is not only fun, funny and entertaining, but deeply moving as well. It is full of gorgeous and inspiring imagery and I am certain we will return to it many times!
We used as a companion to the series a book that I picked up on a whim, called "ROAR! A Christian Family's Guide to the Chronicles of Narnia", by Heather and David Kopp.

There is a two page spread about each chapter of every Narnia book. We really loved this book. I loved that the authors were able to articulate thoughts that I had while reading that I meant to bring up after we were through with the chapter, but I would usually forget! The book really helped draw out many of the spiritual parallels that could be easy to skim past if you were not taking mental notes as you read. There were some fun little quizzes and meanings to unusual words, too. We really enjoyed using this. I wouldn't really say it was a devotional but sometimes we really almost used it that way because there were almost always relevant Bible verses to look up. It was a great addition to the books. Let me know if you'd like to borrow it!!

3 comments:

  1. I think the Narnia books "speak" to me spiritually as much as any bible study. Maybe I am very childlike or something;) I would love to borrow the book, but I would also love to hear at what age you think a child is ready to sit through the Narnia series. I feel like Ada would have a hard time with it right now, but maybe I am wrong. I would love to read a little bit of it as a family each night, but I know she may not be there yet.

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  2. ditto to what LB said Mary. And LB, can I borrow it after you? I know Kim and Josef read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to Ellie and that was probably a year ago. She sat through it. I don't know if Hannah would or not but that's just some perspective. Thanks for sharing this Mary.

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  3. I was going to say about the same...I think around 4 or 5, depending on the fidgety level of the child. Abbie listened but played with blocks the whole time, seems to help her listen better. Definitely you would want to read it again later when they could get more out of it though. I think Kelly N. read it to Samuel & Lucy a year or so ago, too. I think if my oldest child was young, I might either wait until they were 5 or 6, or just read it but plan to do it again in a few years.

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