Read Aloud Thursday - Narnia

I Love Read Aloud Thursday. (That needs to be the next button that Amy creates. Ha!) I plan ahead for them which means I think through what I want to read with my son. It gives us purposeful reading time together which we both enjoy. It gives us a chance to explore things I might have previously thought were too far above his reading level - and then I delightfully discover (time and time again) that that is not the case. What's NOT to love about Read Aloud Thursdays?

For the next two weeks we'll be focusing on The Chronicles of Narnia, in conjunction with the Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge that I'm hosting here at Reading to Know. I love Narnia and I hope to see my son grow to love it also. At age 2 1/2 I wasn't sure how much I should expose him to just yet. After all, it's hard to explain dwarfs, elves and white witches. The concept that there is a battle between good and evil hasn't really sunk in to yet and I don't want to give him too much information before he's ready to properly deal with things like that. Still, I hope to make him familiar with the stories and characters and present this particular series by C.S. Lewis in a way that is fun and exciting.

Thankfully (and I've talked about this book before) a dear friend of mine gifted us with The World of Narnia Collection when I was pregnant with Bookworm1. (Just to show how much I love Lewis and the world he created, we named Bookworm1 after the author. First name? Middle name? Take a guess!)

Within the The World of Narnia Collection are two stories that seem to suit our reading level/comprehension at the moment. First there is the rather "benign" tale of Lucy going into the wardrobe and entering into the land of Narnia. Here we meet Mr. Tumnus ("What is THAT, Mommy!?") and discover that the Land of Narnia is very cold and full of magical snow. There is some discussion of The White Witch but she does not make an appearance in this particular story. Mostly this book focuses on the wardrobe and Lucy's visit with Mr. Tumnus. The illustrations by Deborah Maze are soft, warm and inviting. She uses more pastels than dark, bold colors making the scenes feel very non-threatening in this particular story. (Hey, strange creatures such as fauns could be very threatening if not well done!) We also watched this particular video clip (a few times) to become more familiar with the characters:



The second story we read was Edmund and the White Witch. I was a little nervous about reading this one to him just yet but again the illustrations are such that it didn't seem creepy to him. The White Witch in these pictures is more beautiful than scary and the dwarf just looks like a little man with a beard and is not fearsome or intimidating at all. Not to say that the illustrator demystified Lewis' creatures and creations. She just makes it easier to introduce younger children to Narnia without it feeling like a scary world. I can appreciate that! (We didn't watch any Youtube videos in connection with this particular story, in case you were wondering!)

Now. For a fun little giveaway. (And it is little, but it is also fun!) I was at Goodwill the other day and I found two "brand new" (i.e, still in the package) Mr. Tumnus McDonald's Happy Meal Toys. I bought both, of course, and Bookworm 1 has been playing with the little Mr. Tumnus (who is also a whistle! oh yay) and the little diarama that comes with him. Like I said, I bought two which means I have a spare Mr. Tumnus to give away if one of you would like to win him. He's still in the plastic wrapping package that he came in and it comes with his home (which pictures Lucy sitting in the chair). If your kids might like some fun play, well then - here's Mr. Tumnus.




To win? Leave a comment below (U.S. Residents only please). You don't have to be a participant in the Narnia Reading Challenge to win. The contest will run until next Thursday (July 2nd) at which point I'll have another children's Narnia giveaway. So stay tuned.