Journey to Narnia with the Magician's Nephew

Alice’s tumble down the rabbit hole led her to Wonderland. Later she entered Looking-Glass Land through the mirror above the mantle. With the help of happy thoughts and pixie dust, Wendy flew toward the second star to the right, then straight on ‘til morning until she reached Neverland. Dorothy and her house were lifted by a cyclone and taken to Oz. Lucy found passage to the land of Narnia through an old wardrobe in a spare room in an large, mysterious house. 

 But before Lucy’s first trip to Narnia, Polly Plummer and Digory Kirke travelled there with the help of magic rings. Their story is told in The Magician’s Nephew, one of seven Chronicles of Narnia novels written by C.S. Lewis. A major motion picture adaptation of one of the Chronicles—The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe—will open in theaters on Dec. 9. In the coming months, we’ll offer additional information about the movie, about the Chronicles, and about C.S. Lewis. 

The Magician’s Nephew is the prequel to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (LWW). Though written and published after LWW, Lewis suggested reading The Magician’s Nephew before the other Chronicles. 

Aided by magic rings created by Digory’s greedy Uncle Andrew Ketterly, Digory and Polly find themselves in a Wood Between Worlds, where pools of water lead to different worlds. One of the pools leads to the city of Charn, where Digory awakens the evil Jadis (known in LWW as the White Witch) from her slumber. The children then return to Earth, inadvertently bringing Jadis along, where she begins her plans to take over England, and then the world. The children manage to get Jadis back to the Wood Between Worlds, and then they all travel to world that will become Narnia. 

Each of the Chronicles has parallels with stories from the Bible or allusions to the life of a Christian. In The Magician’s Nephew we witness the creation of Narnia, as the great Lion Aslan sings the world into existence. Compare chapters 8 & 9 of The Magician’s Nephew with Genesis 1:1-2:4. Also, the temptation of Digory in chapter 13will remind readers of the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. 

We invite you to travel to Narnia this fall, as anticipation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe movie grows. Next month, watch for information about “Inklings” and our Chronicles of Narnia reading program. You don’t need pixie dust, an old wardrobe, or severe weather to transport you to another world. Magical adventures await when you open the books of Narnia!