Read Aloud Thursday - Narnia Books for Kids, cont. (with giveaway!)

Ok, to be honest, we've been reading the same books as last week. (At 2 1/2 years old, you can get away with a lot of repitition.) We're still reading the story of Lucy Entering the Wardrobe. He desperately wants to read the "sword fight" story but the illustrations of the White Witch's army are a little creepy. I've only let him look at the pictures of the battle between Aslan and the White Witch briefly. He doesn't seem bothered by it but not wanting to risk very much, I'm trying to keep him focused on Lucy and Mr. Tumnus.

I did, however, manage to find a copy of Prince Caspian: The Tail of Reepicheepat a local bookstore. The book is now out of print but they still had an old copy. I wish I had snatched up some earlier readers when I first saw them in the store. However, having purist leanings I always thought I'd just wait until Bookworm1 could handle the series as written before exposing him. However, even though I like the purist approach, I also battle against patience. Simply stated - I have none. Hence I'm trying to find ways to expose him to Narnia earlier than, say, age 5. (I cannot wait 2 1/2 more years, thank you very much!)

I'm not a really big fan of the Prince Caspian movie. I mean, I don't hate it or anything. I'll watch it (quite willing!) over and over again but parts of it do bother me. I'm not really fond of this picture book adaptation of the story either. The selling point for me is that it names the characters and just makes little kids familiar with the names and events (in a very extroadinarily vague way)! My son now knows there's a "Mouse with a SWORD!!!" named Reepicheep. If that's all we get, I'm almost rather grateful. He knows that High King Peter (a name he loves to say in full) makes an appearance but this particular book on Caspian IS quite confusing so I don't push it too much. Once again we rely on Youtube to offer some additional context:




(And yes, in answer to your questions, I would think this would be a little intense for a 2 1/2 year old. However, he focuses on the fact that there are "BOW AND ARROWS!" (like in Robin Hood) and then, of course, there's the "Mouse with a SWORD!" The fun is just contagious around here, I tell ya!)

Also, I do realize that Youtube doesn't constitute reading aloud ANYthing but it's hard to find Narnia books for kids and I shared the best resource I had last week so I'm hoping for some consideration here. (ha!)

Another video I watch with Bookworm1 (given it's fast-pace and my love for Steven Curtis Chapman's music and ministry) is the following song which we watch sometimes after reading our Narnia books:



And so lastly, for this week, we have the Narnia kid contest which I mentioned previously. Last week's winner of the Tumnus toy is Page Turner. (An e-mail is forthcoming!) This week I stumbled across a couple of fun things that I thought I'd share with some lucky reader with kids older than mine who can more readily appreciate these things:


1. So You Think You Know Narnia?: Over 1,000 Quiz Questions About the Magical Narnia Books

2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Coloring and Activity Book (The Chronicles of Narnia, Volume 1)

In order to win these two books, please leave a comment below. I will select and announce a winner at the conclusion of The Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge on July 17, 2009.

Be sure to leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you at. (U.S. Residents only, please!)

If you are a regular subscriber to this site, feel free to leave a second comment. Extra entries allowed for people who are regularly around! ;)

Also, if you have any suggestions for ways to introduce younger children (toddler aged) to Narnia - do let me know! I am happy to hear your suggestions!!!