Beware... Believing in Narnia is a book of spoilers! In this book, author Natalie Gillespie and her children have put together their findings on the spiritual symbols and parallels in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. It is a fairly thorough summary, with plot briefs, character studies, interesting tidbits, and relevant Scriptures interspersed throughout the text. With graphics, illustrations, callouts, and various font treatments, I can see how it might be an appealing read for a young Narnia fan. However, I was not overly impressed.

Personally, I found myself a bit older than the book's target audience and have long since discovered the many wonderful spiritual parallels discussed here. Though this book was enthusiastically recommended to me by a young friend, I am glad I didn't read it as a child when I was still discovering Narnia, or even as a teen when I began to mature spiritually and see the deeper truths Lewis was pointing at. It is much more fun to let these things dawn naturally on the mind and discover them for yourself.

I also disagree with several of Gillespie's interpretations and lessons. For example, on page 70 she interprets Aslan's statement that he had swallowed up people and whole cities as meaning they "have gotten so close to Jesus that they give everything to Him." I have always understood that statement to declare Aslan's judgment on evil people and cities (such as Charn). There was another interpretation that was very off: oh yes, on pages 146–48, Gillespie misses the whole point of Shift and Puzzle and the lion skin. Her main thrust is "God created you to be the unique person you are, and He doesn't want you to hide your personality, your talents, and your gifts under an old lion skin" (147). This is almost laughably off base. The whole point of the lion skin is apostasy and deception and the danger of false doctrine, not hiding your wonderful personal uniqueness!

But this is symptomatic of the entire book: it is extremely moralistic and everything has to have an application. But some truths don't have an immediate "what can you do now" application. Some truths just need to be true and pondered, without any instant moral of the story. I believe truths that may initially seem inapplicable to us actually do filter into our thinking and thus behavior if we will just let them be and think about them instead of rushing to see how they can make us better people.

There were a couple interesting tidbits I wasn't aware of previously (Lewis wrote all seven Chronicles using an old-fashioned pen dipped in ink, not a ballpoint pen; some people think Father Christmas represents the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit; and "Jadis," means "long ago" in French). So those were fun to learn.

Overall, I'm not sure I would give this book to my children; I am so fond of how I explored Narnia, discovering its secrets for myself, that I want them to have that same experience. In many ways a book like this goes against Lewis's philosophy in writing the Chronicles in the first place, embedding truth in fiction so winsomely that it slips past watchful dragons. This book, well intentioned as it is, diminishes Narnia's mystery and charm by making everything explicit and obvious. ( )

NCLA Review -With the popularity of recent movies based on C.S. Lewis' books, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, there is a proliferation of books available to guide one thru Narnia. Gillespie states that her book "isn't a picture book for little kids, and it wasn't written for parents. It was written for you"—children ages 7-11. The Chronicles of Narnia is a popular series with children and adults. This book is an adequate guide for children. All seven books of the series are briefly retold, the characters are analyzed and the "secrets" are explained. The emphasis, however, is on Jesus and to "help you learn more about your relationship with Jesus." If this book is a guide for children thru Narnia, why is the author's emphasis on the reader’s personal relationship to Jesus Christ? This approach takes all the fun out of reading the Narnia Chronicles. There are other suggested resources listed at the end of the book to further explore the Narnia Chronicles. Paul Ford's Companion to Narnia is considered the classic reference. Rating: 2 —BS Thomas Nelson 2008, 183p, paper, 978-1-4003-1282-5, $12.99 [C 823.9] ( )