El nebot del mag (1951)

In nineteenth century London, Digory and his dying mother come to live with his aunt and uncle... an uncle who Digory at first believes to be mad, but who he soon discovers to be a magician (of sorts), and a very unscrupulous one at that. When his friend Polly is sent out of this World into an unknown place by his uncle’s experiments, Digory has no choice but to follow to bring her back. But Digory and Polly bring back far more than they bargained for: the evil Queen Jadis who had destroyed her own world of Charn, and who quickly causes chaos on the streets of London. And the children’s attempt to return her to Charn does not quite go according to plan ...

When I was a child I loved C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books above pretty much all others, and of all those books probably my favourite was The Magician’s Nephew. The story tells what is effectively a creation myth for the land of Narnia, but it’s more than half way through before Narnia is even thought of, and the sections in Charn and London in the first half are equally enjoyable. It’s quite dark at times (there is no doubt that the Queen Jadis is truly evil and will sacrifice everything and everyone to get her own way) and it also has very amusing sections:

The talking animals of Narnia, led by the Elephant try to decide whether Uncle Andrew is an animal or a tree:

“What do most of us think? Is it an animal or something of the tree kind?”
“Tree! Tree!” said a dozen voices.
“Very Well,” said the Elephant. “Then, if it’s a tree it wants to be planted. We must dig a hole.”
The two Moles settled that part of the business pretty quickly. There was some dispute as to which way up Uncle Andrew ought to be put into the hole, and he had a very narrow escape from being put in head foremost. Several animals said his legs must be his branches and therefore the grey, fluffy thing (they meant his head) must be his root. But then others said that the forked end of him was muddier and that it spread out more as roots ought to do. So finally he was planted right way up. When they had patted down the earth it came above his knees.
“It looks dreadfully withered,” said the Donkey.
“Of course it wants some watering, “ said the Elephant.

On rereading this I would have to give it five stars, if only to reflect the pleasure that it gave me as a child. But really it was absolutely a joy to reread now, so the rating is fully justified. ( )

Nostalgiathon selection

Children's books are hard to rate as an adult, but out of the pure nostalgia and whimsy of this book I easily give it 4 stars.

I can vividly remember my fourth grade teacher Mrs. L reading the Narnia series to us and she was so good at all the little voices. I can honestly she is probably the person who made me fall in love with reading, so these books hold a special place in my heart because of her. ❤️ ( )

A classic. I love Lewis' poetic description of creation. ( )

Well read. Enjoyed the artists rendering of voices for this. And I am old enough I believe to read fairy tales again!!! ( )

Well read. Enjoyed the artists rendering of voices for this. And I am old enough I believe to read fairy tales again!!! ( )