Showing posts with label C. S. Lewis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label C. S. Lewis. Show all posts

October 16 – The Universe Welcomes Narnia!

Posted October 16, 2018



Before this date in 1950, nobody had heard of the land of Narnia. Nobody had heard of the incredibly patient and good-hearted lion named Aslan. Almost nobody had ever conceived of going to a magical world through an ordinary wardrobe.



Up to that date, most people had never heard of British writer and theologian C. S. Lewis.

And many had never heard of Turkish Delight!

But all that soon changed. October 16, 1950, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was published, and in the next six years, six more fantasy books explored The Chronicles of Narnia. And the world explored along with author Lewis: The Chronicles have sold more than 100 million copies in at least 47 languages, and adaptations of the stories have been made for radio, television, the stage, and of course movies.





Did you know...?

Author C. S. Lewis was good friends with J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. They were both English professors at Oxford University, and they were both in a literary group called the Inklings.

C. S. Lewis has a memorial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. That's a place where many poets and writers were buried, and others who were buried elsewhere often have floor stones, tablets, busts, windows, or other memorials placed there. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Kipling, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Lewis Carroll, Robert Burns, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and many many many more writers have memorials there.

Ideas and characters in the Narnia books were influenced by Greek and Roman myths, British and Irish fairy tales, and Christian Bible stories.



Apparently the candy that Narnia
character Edmund loved so much
was the rose-flavored red candy
pictured above. But there are other
types and flavors of Turkish Delight
(pictured below).
The candy called Turkish Delight really does exist - but many people report that it is disgusting! Here is an article about the candy.






November 29 – Happy Birthday, C. S. Lewis

Posted on November 29, 2014


Many of us do not recognize today's birthday boy (born in 1898) when we see his photo.

We (most of us) do not recognize him when we hear his whole name: Clive Staples Lewis.

We don't even recognize the name his friends used: Jack Lewis. (I'm not sure how you get the nickname “Jack” when your name is Clive...but, oh, well!)

But many people recognize the author C. S. Lewis. He wrote The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and a whole lot more books for kids and adults.


I always thought that C. S. Lewis was from England, or at least from Great Britain, but actually he was born in Belfast when it was still a part of Ireland. The island of Ireland was partitioned in 1921 into the Republic of Ireland (which is its own, completely independent nation) and Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom. (Remember, the United Kingdom's longer name is “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And Great Britain itself is made up of Wales, Scotland, and England.) From the time of the partitioning on, Belfast was the capital of Northern Ireland.

Despite the fact that C. S. Lewis was born in Ireland, he lived most of his life in England. He taught at both Oxford and Cambridge, and he and his good buddy J. R. R. Tolkien (of Lord of the Rings fame) were both members of the literary group called the Inklings.

C. S. Lewis wrote science fiction, fantasy, other fiction, and non-fiction. Certainly his seven-volume Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe being the first) are his best known works.




...or enjoy this or this other Narnia-based crafts or lapbook activities. 




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