Jack and Warnie were two brothers who were very different. Jack used his imagination to create new worlds while Warnie preferred to create worlds that were like the real world and how it worked. Warnie would pretend to be an Indian raja whose world was like the real world with trains. Jack pretended he was a brave knight in a world ruled by a mouse king.
When they moved to a new house, the two brothers discovered an old wardrobe in a room next to the attic. It smelled strongly of moth balls. Jack wondered, as he felt into the deep, large wardrobe, if it had no end!
When Jack and Warnie's mother became very ill, the two boys created their own imaginary world which they called Boxen. The brothers each created specific parts of Boxen's kingdom.
Sadly their mother died, leading their father to send them away to boarding school in England. Jack didn't like his time in England. Instead of being able to read, he spent much time working on math problems. When war came, both Jack and Warnie enlisted but were sent to separate regiments. After the war, while Warnie stayed with the army, Jack gave lectures as a teacher at Oxford.
When Warnie retired from the army, he came to live with Jack in a spacious house that contained the same wardrobe from their home in Ireland, years ago.
When a second war broke out, the English sent their children to the countryside to be safe. To help the displaced children, Jack and Warnie took in two girls. One day while exploring their new home, the two girls found the wardrobe and wondered, "What was on the other side of the door?"
So did Jack! Soon his imagination was filed with ideas: a lamppost, a faun, two boys and two girls who entered a strange world through a wardrobe, a place covered in snow called Narnia and a white witch.
Discussion
Most readers know C.S. Lewis for his Chronicles of Narnia series or his many books exploring Christian and philosophical ideas including The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity. In Finding Narnia, McAlister provides young readers with the background story of Lewis and how his love of imagination created one of the world's most beloved stories.
Born Clive Staples Lewis in 1898, he adopted the name of Jacksie after the death of his beloved dog of the same name. Eventually that would be shortened to Jack. His older brother Warren Hamilton Lewis (Warnie) was Jack's best friend and childhood playmate.
As a child Jack loved fantasy and especially loved Beatrix Potter's stories. With Warnie he created a fantasy world called Boxen that featured talking animals but also Warnie's technology. As a teenager, he read Norse and Greek mythology as well as Irish mythology. This love of fantasy and mythology led him to become a Fellow and Tutor of English Literature at Magdalen College. In 1954 he became the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Magdalen College at Cambridge University.
Eventually, Jack would meet J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Hobbit and creator of the Lord of the Rings saga and the world of Middle Earth. Jack, along with Warnie were members of a literary group called The Inklings that met at Oxford. Tolkien was to be a profound influence on Jack, helping him to rediscover Christianity and inspiring Jack to further develop his Narnia world. This is the one very important influence lacking in McAlister's account: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's friendship was to result in two of the most important works of fiction written in the 20th century.
McAlister's picture book provides readers with the integral points about Jack and Warnie; their deep friendship that bound the two brothers together and their creativity and imagination that led Jack to write the Narnia stories. However, in her Author's Note, McAlister fleshes out the story of Jack and Warnie Lewis's lives in more detail, offering readers
McAlister's biography is illustrated with the watercolor artwork of Jessica Lanan. A unique feature of this picture book biography is the comprehensive Illustrator's Note at the back in which Lanan goes through each illustration and explains specific details. For example, on pages eight and nine, the famous wardrobe that inspired the magical wardrobe in the Narnia chronicles is portrayed. Lanan writes that although, "It is darker in color than I have depicted here, ...I tried to be true to the size and decoration of the original."
Finding Narnia is a great addition to any unit on C.S. Lewis and for those who are reading the Narnia Chronicles and may want to learn something about the author and how his imaginary world came to be.
Book Details:
Finding Narnia: The Story of C.S. Lewis and His Brother by Caroline McAlister
New York: Roaring Book Press 2019
39 pp.
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