Book 45 of 50 – The Screwtape Letters

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We knew C.S. Lewis was brilliant and The Screwtape Letters (affiliate link) only confirms it. How did Lewis even come up with this book? God only knows.

The Screwtape Letters

If you do not read anything else by Lewis, read this one.

Screwtape is a devil who is teaching his nephew, Wormwood, how to tempt a young man (a British man named The Patient in the book). The book educates you and shocks you about the way demons look at us humans. Very insightful indeed.

Every letter becomes a chapter which advances the story of the young man. This is a small book and the chapters (or letters) are short. As such, The Screwtape Letters is very easy to read.

The ending will give you chills. Throughout the book though, depending on how much you already understand about the battle between Jesus and Satan, you will have goosebumps.

Teenagers should read this book for themselves, in my opinion. It would help them gain an understanding of the forces at play in their lives as they make decisions.


Book 9 of 50 – The Abolition of Man

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C. S. Lewis gave three lectures at Cambridge about the philosophy of education as he understood it. These lectures became The Abolition of Man (affiliate link). Many commentators put this book on a short list of books that can save Western Civilization.

Lewis starts out by criticing an English high school textbook of his time. From there, he builds a case for education in morality and absolute values. Honestly, at times, I had no idea what he was saying. He lost me about the middle of the first chapter, Men Without Chests. I got the main idea, but when he got into the details of The Way (which he calls the Tao), my poor mind did not comprehend him anymore. Continue reading »


Tuesday Tome Week 39 – The Last Battle

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My daughter, who is six, says that The Last Battle is her favorite book in all The Chronicles of Narnia. I don’t think it was my favorite, but it was definitely a great book to read.

The Last Battle

The allegories to the Christian journey continued and culminated with the last scenes where all the characters come back. We had to go back to the first volume to remember if the first king of Narnia, King Frank, was a policeman or a cabby (he was a cabby) because we had forgotten such details.

It was good to recount who was who and who did what and when. The children remembered more than I did, which is a good thing. I have enough things to remember as it is. Information overload is the story of a mother’s life.

One thing we have been doing more and more of is highlight humorous passages. For example, the kids laugh when a character says, “Hallo! What are we stopping for?” or “aii-aii-aouwee!” or “ow! ow! What d’you do that for!” They are beginning to take literature in and react and respond to different scenes and turns of phrases, the silly ones for now, but others later on, too, I am sure. That was my goal all along.

Once literature speaks to them directly, they will reach for books again and again. It’s like anything else. You cannot force them to love music (or Jesus). You put them in the presence of music (or Jesus) over and over and then music (or Jesus) works its (His) magic. Continue reading »


Tuesday Tome Week 35 – The Horse and His Boy

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Volume 3 in The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy was a completely unknown book to me. How sad! This book has fed me so much since we read it with the children. We also listened to it in radio theater form from Focus on the Family.

The Horse and His Boy

Shasta is an orphan boy raised by a cruel man, who ends up running away to Narnia on a talking horse. So now you know who the characters in the title are. The books presents several other memorable characters as Shasta meets friends and foes on the way to his new destiny.  Continue reading »


Tuesday Tome Week 34 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second volume of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis and, probably, the best-known and the most read. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy spend their summer in the country because of the war (this was World War II England – a chance to discuss some history with the kids), in the home of an old professor. There, Lucy walks into a wardrobe and, from there, into Narnia, a magical land.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

C. S. Lewis wrote about Narnia and you could just enjoy the story as it is, of course. But the writer meant it all as an allegory of the Christian walk and a human’s relationship with Jesus Christ. Aslan, the lion in the title, represents Jesus. The Witch represents Satan and, at times, our fallen nature. The Wardrobe is the actual “door” used to go between our world and Narnia.  Continue reading »


Tuesday Tome Week 33 – The Magician’s Nephew

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The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis have inspired me and the children in many ways. I will attempt to cover several in this blog post but there will be more points coming, as I will write about each volume in a separate post.

The Magician's Nephew

The first volume of this masterpiece is titled The Magician’s Nephew. The language, the long sentences, the descriptions, i.e. the beautiful prose of C.S. Lewis, represent the first reason why any homeschool should put Narnia on their reading list.  Continue reading »