I first came across the Narnia books when I was in 5th grade, and had absolutely no idea for many years afterwards that it had anything at all to do with Christianity. Which is rather amusing, since at the time I read the entire series straight through and wrote a fairly long essay on them for extra credit. I was analyzing the role of Aslan - I pointed out that although Aslan was a heroic character in the first book, after that he became much more ambiguous. He was generally not scene except in glimpses here and there, and it didn't seem like he was acting to protect and help the protagonists like he was in the first book. It also seemed to me that Aslan was acting according to some unknown agenda, which may or may not have been in the best interests of the protagonists.

When I did find out about the Christian basis of the books, I was angry. I really felt betrayed and used by Lewis, liked he lied to me, pretending to just be telling a good story when he was really trying to brainwash me. Well, maybe brainwash isn't the right term. Unethically and immorally trying to manipulate me.

Even before I found out about that, I still much preferred Tolkein. But actually my favorite high fantasy series by far at the time was The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. It's still my favorite of the three, and I highly recommend it. It's quite openly based on Welsh mythology, so there's zero Christian overtones.

I had a hard time with His Dark Materials - which I only read fairly recently. I found it had a really huge squick factor for me, kind of like reading a novel set in a world where Hitler won the war and the story revolved around people trying to deal with a worldwide Nazi regime, ruled by the Gestapo and the SS.

nania is very nice movie, i am watch this movie on cinema .
i am like this movie.

Holes is wonderful :D

I like Gathering Blue the best of The Giver series. Good books.

The Inkheart books are vastly better than the movie.

LRA rocks her children's lit old school. I don't love either of those books, but classics are classics.

My favorite, favorite, favorite kids' book of all time is Holes by Louis Sachar.

Awesome book!

I also like The Giver by Lois Lowry.

Excellent recommendations, thanks all! :-) I've been meaning to get ahold of the Dark Tower series at some point, and my brother really enjoyed the Inkheart books; I've only seen the Inkheart movie, which was only "okay" imo.

I'm halfway through Prince Caspian (darn odd work/school schedules that have me watching half a movie and then postponing the rest!), and so far I enjoy the darker tone it has taken. Have to say I loved the exchange: "I'm tired of being treated like kids." "We *are* kids!" "I wasn't always!"

The Diamond Brothers. A bunch of hilarious pulp-fiction type detective thrillers.

you even bought that? how could you do that?

I can't read Artemis Fowl. I'm too horrified with what Ioan Colfer did with the Hitch-hiker's Guide series. Seriously, have you read his attempt at a sequel? It's garbage. Absolute and complete shite.

The Dark Tower series rocks. King is writing a new one, by the way, intended to go in before Wolves of The Cala. I can't wait; I really don't like his horror stuff, but the Dark Tower is masterful.

I liked the frist 2 books of artemis fowl, the others seems a lil too forced.

Also the Dark Tower is an amazing saga, along with A Song of Ice and Fire, althought I won't reccomed them for child-reading

I also highly recommend the Inkheart series.

My turn to read the Bible picture book with the kid last night. We found out what happens to the snake. Moses's super-fun magic tricks with a staff. Half-impresses pharaohs everywhere.

The Artemis Fowl series is pretty good.

The space trilogy does get steadily worse. In my book, though, that's pretty much normal. Not ideal, certainly not great, but normal.

But yes, you've more or less accurately characterized them, Ursa.

@Noelle: I have seen the Princess Bride, I must say I greatly appreciated it. Rodents of unusual size ftw! :D Haven't seen Pan's, must check that out. Kat (my gf) had an interesting interpretation of the Narnia woo, seeing it as an allegory for Nature sort of along the lines of Avatar, rather than anything religious.

@Ursa: Yeah, it did seem that there were a lot of mythical creatures just thrown in, fauns, griffins, mermaids... It made for nice visuals, but a rather disjointed world.

@Revyloution: You aren't participating in the traditional atheistic bunny burning? Heresy! :D

@blotonthelandscape I'd have to say yes. Our daughter is amazing. At eight, she has an amazing BS detector, and is a real critical thinker. Every teacher she's had since preschool has commented on her intellect, and how wonderful she is to have around. The God thing has come up now and then, and she has always been polite and respectful while saying that she simply doesnt believe in any gods. We even got one of the 'Your'e atheists? But you seem so NICE!'

As much as I like what Pullman was trying to do, and as much as I think he's quite a good writer, I have to say the His Dark Materials books are a classic example of a trilogy that drives off the cliff.

The first book is brilliant. It sets up a fascinating alternate world, explores some facets of it, and hooks us into the mystery of the main plot. The second book spends a lot of time doing things the first book did, and starts to lose steam. The third book falls off the rails and dies. Getting through the third book took a real effort. It was an awful slog, and didn't pay off any of the great stuff the first book proposed.

That trilogy is the thing I think about when I plan out a book series. It's my example of how NOT to do it.

@JonJon: You liked the whole space trilogy? Really? I thought it got steadily worse as it went along. Lewis' Mars is a richly imagined, intriguing place; his Venus is shallow and insipid; his Britain makes practically any other place in the universe seem interesting by comparison.

I like the space trilogy. It's the same kind of thing as the planet of the apes, and that's an acknowledged sci-fi classic: heavy-handed, ridiculous, robinson crusoe-esque, and covered with a patina of sci-fi.

His dark materials (of which I've read about the first half of the first book) is thematically very dark, and I don't think I like the idea of young children reading them.

The Artemis Fowl books are a great deal of fun.

@Morpheus91:

Yes, one thing you will learn from the Narnia series is that children with no prior combat experience can pick up a sword and kill monsters and heathens without any trouble. The concept didn't seem as far-fetched to me when I was twelve years old.

Tolkien expressed his dislike for Narnia on the grounds that its denizens weren't exactly original creations. For example, Lewis lifted nymphs and centaurs and fauns wholesale from classical mythology. Tolkien found such things "out of place". And again, that really didn't bother me when I was a kid.

@ morpheus: I have the dark materials series too, and it's pretty good. The Golden Compass movie isn't as good as it could've been, though Nicole Kidman gives a nice performance as the evil lady. I think you stumbled on a good reason to watch the Narnia movies, seeing your girlfriend enjoying them so much. Have you seen Pan's Labyrinth and The Princess Bride? Those are two of my favorite fantasy films.

@ Custy: I agree. Lewis's sci-fi series is awful. And I agree that 'Tis is almost more depressing than Angela's Ashes. At least Angela's Ashes ends with him getting out of depressing Ireland. 'Tis shows you the life he created for himself after just kept sucking.

@ TQ: kinda like a Rozencrantz and Guildenstern for the Bible? I like it. And, as it turns out, daddy got to field the who's god question. So I am in the clear on that one. Kid keeps wanting to know how babies are made and born though. Never stops.

His Dark Materials are pretty good.

I'd say that His Dark Materials is (IIRC) aimed at a slightly older age group than Narnia, but both are good young reading.

After finishing the first movie, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The Christian allegory was only there when I specifically looked for it, and Aslan was actually quite the majestic character. I can't say I liked the kids, with the exception of Lucy; the others were a bit too snobby, and Edmund was positively unbearable. The battle scenes left me a bit so/so, cuz there's no way kids could survive a battle with those kinds of mythical monsters, especially on only a few days training, but hey, it is a fantasy tale for kids. The inclusion of Father Christmas, while a bit jarring, actually enchanted me a bit, as it increased the idea of it being a tale of the magic in childrens' imaginations, rather than an apologetic piece against logic. I mean, you can't really say "have faith" and then argue that the faith is in Santa Clause too, and expect to be take seriously.

All in all, I think I'll be watching the next two movies, and if nothing else, I adore seeing my lady geek out over them. :D

Excellent points regarding allowing children to read, and ways of dealing with the religious influence. I was also thinking of acquiring His Dark Materials, as a somewhat counterpoint selection of reading material, would this be a good idea? Obviously we don't have kids yet, just thinking ahead, and looking for good fantasy for myself. :P

Prelandria was the only one I attempted. "Attempted" being the operative word; it has the dubious honour of being only the second book I didn't finish once I'd started it (I'm normally really stubborn about it, even with books I'm not enjoying). For the record, the first was Swallows and Amazons, and the third was 'Tis. I fought my way through Angela's Ashes waiting for the suicide juice to stop flowing, and it didn't - So I kind of assumed that things would cheer up a bit in 'Tis... I got halfway through it, asked a friend who'd finished it if it ever stopped being a barrage of misery, he said no, so I ripped it in half and threw it away.

I will irritate Custy by saying that I thought "Out of the Silent Planet" was pretty good, but its sequels "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength" really sucked.

My advice is avoid his sci-fi work like it's covered in dog vomit. Staring at dog vomit would be a more rewarding use of time.

Morpheus91 wrote: Do you enjoy the stories as a good fantasy series, treating the allegorical base as no different from any other myth that has inspired fantasy stories? Or does the theological inspiration irk you to the point of not enjoying the stories?

Can't stand CS Lewis myself. I wasted hours of my life reading his Narnia trash and his dreadful apologetics books because I was encouraged to by other Christians. Hours I will never get back. "Mad, bad or God" indeed. He conveniently missed out "Legend" methinks. And when Father Christmas turns up in one of his Narnia books ... not a good sign for a quality piece of literature.

Well, you'd think so, but I find that even the best such stories are basically just hagiography about people who don't merit it (if anyone even does.) There's a book called "The Robe" which is about the Roman soldier who wins Jesus' clothes--while the premise is quite interesting, it reads like Ben-Hur (which is to say, it more or less assumes that the people reading it will be nominally Christian Americans).