Book Dedication by C. S. Lewis to his goddaughter Lucy Barfield:

My Dear Lucy,
I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be 

your affectionate Godfather,
C.S. Lewis

Even before reading the first word of the first chapter, the above dedication threw me into whirlwind of emotions, waking me up from a stupor that I must have fallen into as I grew out of girlhood, and greatly moved me with the timing that C. S. Lewis talks about when one is old enough to start reading fairy tales again.

Leaving behind the cozy make-believe one with fairy tales, as we dip our toes into the real world, waters get increasingly rough and life gets progressively complicated, leaving us disillusioned long before we realize. It is then, defeated and despondent, that we return to these very “fairy tales” for hope and happiness to get through the real world.

Life comes a full circle.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the first book written and published in a series of seven books under a collective title The Chronicles of Narnia (though the reading order is controversial). It is about four siblings who are sent to live with an old professor in a very big and a very old house to be safe from the dangers of World War II. There they discover a wardrobe in one of the rooms that leads into the magical realm of the world of Narnia. Here there are mythical characters, animal talk and a life in their cozy homes, (which by the way was my favorite part making me feel so warm, happy and secure.) Nothing like escaping into such a world, and having tea and cakes by the fire in one such cottage, be it in your imagination. The kids and some of their jungle friends fight against the evil White Witch and her army of wicked creatures with the help of the mighty king of beasts, the royal Lion Aslan.

The popular novelist Stephen King believes story is the boss of everything in a novel, and this book is all about the great story told in an uncomplicated manner. I loved the book and was happy that I interjected my regular reading with it. A classic in children’s literature, it is a refreshing re/read for those who have grown tired of being grown-ups. Five stars on my Goodreads.

A beautiful excerpt:
There was no trace of the fog now. The sky became bluer and bluer, and now there were white clouds hurrying across it from time to time. In the wide glades there were primroses. A light breeze sprang up which scattered drops of moisture from the swaying branches and carried cool, delicious scents against the faces of the travelers. The trees began to come fully alive. The larches and birches were covered with green, the laburnums with gold. Soon the beech trees had put forth their delicate, transparent leaves. As the travelers walked under them the light also became green. A bee buzzed across their path.