I question the merit of reading any authors juvenilia. I'm also not the biggest Lewis fan, so with that context... i hated it.
The background piece is ok except it keeps referring to [b: Surprised by Joy|121732|Surprised by Joy The Shape of My Early Life|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1381407473s/121732.jpg|877675], so if you like this part it just makes you want to read that book instead.
The tales themselves all involved animal people, but arn't actually kids stories by any modern definition. The first is a weird little shakespeare play but it was ok. The main bulk of the stories however consist of a politic drama... its soooooo... boring! I spent most of the time trying to figure out if he was going for satire, or which characters i was supposed to like, or whether it was racist... or maybe anti-racist., or which bits of british history or fiction he was ripping off. However the only conclusion i arrived at was that i desperately wanted it to end :P .
The final 2 stories are an improvement, they're about reforming manners in the navy... wow.. it just keeps getting more exciting, (he said sarcastically). Actually though the final tale was quite acceptable and stopped me considering 1 star. ( )

This was really interesting to read. I feel like i've been getting to know C. S. Lewis better as i just read what was his diary after his wife's death, "A Grief Observed", and then read what he wrote with his brother as a child. It is really impressive writing and complex thinking for a child, although the subject matter is not particularly interesting to me. A lot of it is politics and war, though there is a brazen hussy featured in one story. Haha.

*Review written on December 16, 2014.* ( )

The most notable iprovement in this version over the 1985 one is that it reproduces, sometimes in color, much of the original text , illustrations and maps, as originally handwritten (or in the case of some texts, typed) by the Lewuis brothers when children (sometimes with very erratic spelling). ( )

Adorable. Some hints of Lewis's later books are visible, but I see more hints of the kinds of books he was reading then. (Very advanced, of course.)

Besides the stories that were still extant are included the original drawings and maps. They are adorable too, and surprisingly detailed. The best thing about the whole book is the obvious joy that the boys took in making up the stories and rereading them.

A great insight into Lewis's early life, and fun stories still for kids of that age! ( )

NA