Narnia

A few years ago, I was browsing through a bookstore and stumbled across a clearance set of the Chronicles of Narnia books narrated by a British actor.  This is the set: http://www.christianbook.com/chronicles-limited-edition-family-theatre-audiodrama/c-s-lewis/9781589972995/pd/972996  Being the book lover that I am, I bought it.  In addition to wanting to listen to it myself, I thought that eventually the boys might want to listen to it at bedtime.  Right now, the boys listen to stories on CD or music at bedtime after we've tucked them in.  I did this as a child and I can still vividly remember my favorite stories and songs that I fell asleep too, so I'm always on the lookout for something good for them to listen to.

This past winter, a friend called me out for having not read all 7 of the Narnia books but having read the Twilight series (my brother was also horrified but thankfully did not disown me over this fact).  So I promptly read all 7 books in about a two week time frame.  Around that time, I also thought that I'd try having the boys listen to the first cd (part one of The Magician's Nephew).  They did, but they weren't that into it, so we decided to wait and try it when they were older.

About a month ago, I mentioned to the twins that when they were older, I could read the Narnia books to them.  Since then, they have been asking for me to get the books so we could start.  I was suppose to pick them up from my friend Jaime when we went for a run, but I had to cancel the run because Caleb was sick and Jon was out of town that weekend.  When James realized I wouldn't be seeing her that day, he burst into tears.  After a few minutes, I was able to understand that he was crying because cancelling the run meant I wouldn't see Jaime and get the Narnia books.  So we packed up everyone into the car and made a quick trip to Jaime's house for the books so we could start them that day as promised.

Our routine is for Jon to put the two younger boys to bed (or I put them down first if he's gone) and then the big boys and I snuggle up on the couch (one boy on each side) and we read 2 chapters a night.  It takes about thirty minutes to do 2 chapters.  We were able to finish The Magician's Nephew in one week.  I couldn't believe how into it James & Andrew were and I was loving re-reading them. 


I assumed that we would take a night or two off before reading the second book.  I was wrong.  James and Andrew informed me that we would be starting The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe immediately.  We counted the chapters and discovered if we did 2-3 chapters a night, we could finish it in a week (before my trip out to Delaware to visit my sister).  Reading the second book coincided with the first week of school and the boys were exhausted a few nights and we only made it through 1.5 chapters.  So, we were a little behind schedule.

When Friday night rolled around, they were completely enthralled with the story.  They didn't want to put it down.  Since it was the weekend, we stayed up late to read all 6 remaining chapters.  This means that my active 6 years olds sat for about 70 minutes straight listening to me read.  If you know my boys, you know that this means that they were desperate about finishing the book.

Despite having seen the movie, they wanted to hear the details about what happened to Aslan at the stone table and how the battle with the Witch would end.  I have to admit, my mama heart was ecstatic.  I love reading and for as long as I can remember, I've had trouble shutting a good book and going to bed, doing the dishes, pretty much doing anything other than finding out how it ends.  I joke that when I am reading a good book that almost much nothing gets done in our house (laundry, cooking, etc) but if you ask my husband, he'll confirm that its not really a joke.  He has on occasion asked me to take breaks in between reading series for these reasons. 

Reading Narnia to the boys has taught me that there is something completely different about the reading experience when you read the book aloud to other people than reading it silently to yourself.  I found my eyes tearing up and actually getting choked up when I tried to read the part where Lucy and Susan watch Aslan die.  And the pure joy of reading about Aslan's resurrection and the girls reactions to seeing him alive again. 

Jon tried to snap a quick picture of us reading without the boys noticing.

Usually I'm fresh out of the shower following a run and pretty tired when we read, but I cherish those thirty minutes each night.  We've been taking a break this week while I'm out east visiting my adorable new nephew Harvey (a post with pictures about him is in the works, but right now I'm trying to choose which of the 1000 pictures I've taken to post). 

I look forward to starting book 3,  The Horse and His Boy, when I get home tomorrow.