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Thursday, July 02, 2009

Read Aloud Thursday - Narnia Books for Kids, cont. (with giveaway!)

Read-Aloud Thursday at Hope Is the Word
Ok, to be honest, we've been reading the same books as last week. (At 2 1/2 years old, you can get away with a lot of repitition.) We're still reading the story of Lucy Entering the Wardrobe. He desperately wants to read the "sword fight" story but the illustrations of the White Witch's army are a little creepy. I've only let him look at the pictures of the battle between Aslan and the White Witch briefly. He doesn't seem bothered by it but not wanting to risk very much, I'm trying to keep him focused on Lucy and Mr. Tumnus.

I did, however, manage to find a copy of Prince Caspian: The Tail of Reepicheepat a local bookstore. The book is now out of print but they still had an old copy. I wish I had snatched up some earlier readers when I first saw them in the store. However, having purist leanings I always thought I'd just wait until Bookworm1 could handle the series as written before exposing him. However, even though I like the purist approach, I also battle against patience. Simply stated - I have none. Hence I'm trying to find ways to expose him to Narnia earlier than, say, age 5. (I cannot wait 2 1/2 more years, thank you very much!)

I'm not a really big fan of the Prince Caspian movie. I mean, I don't hate it or anything. I'll watch it (quite willing!) over and over again but parts of it do bother me. I'm not really fond of this picture book adaptation of the story either. The selling point for me is that it names the characters and just makes little kids familiar with the names and events (in a very extroadinarily vague way)! My son now knows there's a "Mouse with a SWORD!!!" named Reepicheep. If that's all we get, I'm almost rather grateful. He knows that High King Peter (a name he loves to say in full) makes an appearance but this particular book on Caspian IS quite confusing so I don't push it too much. Once again we rely on Youtube to offer some additional context:






(And yes, in answer to your questions, I would think this would be a little intense for a 2 1/2 year old. However, he focuses on the fact that there are "BOW AND ARROWS!" (like in Robin Hood) and then, of course, there's the "Mouse with a SWORD!" The fun is just contagious around here, I tell ya!)

Also, I do realize that Youtube doesn't constitute reading aloud ANYthing but it's hard to find Narnia books for kids and I shared the best resource I had last week so I'm hoping for some consideration here. (ha!)

Another video I watch with Bookworm1 (given it's fast-pace and my love for Steven Curtis Chapman's music and ministry) is the following song which we watch sometimes after reading our Narnia books:





And so lastly, for this week, we have the Narnia kid contest which I mentioned previously. Last week's winner of the Tumnus toy is Page Turner. (An e-mail is forthcoming!) This week I stumbled across a couple of fun things that I thought I'd share with some lucky reader with kids older than mine who can more readily appreciate these things:


1. So You Think You Know Narnia?: Over 1,000 Quiz Questions About the Magical Narnia Books

2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Coloring and Activity Book (The Chronicles of Narnia, Volume 1)

Chronicles of Narnia Reading ChallengeIn order to win these two books, please leave a comment below. I will select and announce a winner at the conclusion of The Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge on July 17, 2009.

Be sure to leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you at. (U.S. Residents only, please!)

If you are a regular subscriber to this site, feel free to leave a second comment. Extra entries allowed for people who are regularly around! ;)

Also, if you have any suggestions for ways to introduce younger children (toddler aged) to Narnia - do let me know! I am happy to hear your suggestions!!!

10 comments:

Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...

My girls would enjoy that coloring book, I think.

Great post, Carrie. I don't have any suggestions, since I'm just now introducing my own dc to Narnia, and they're older than yours. I'm all ears, though.

And, of course, your youtube videos are perfectly welcome! :-)

Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...

Oh, Carrie, I've never seen that SCC video! How have I missed that?!?!?!

I showed my girls, and Lulu, when she saw Aslan, yelled out excitedly, "There's Aslan!!!" :-)

They're clamoring now to watch it again. I suppose I'll let them. . .:-)

Thanks so much for sharing that video!

B said...

One of the families that I tutored for in WA had a pet mouse named Reepicheep. I just remember asking them to let me know if Reepicheep went missing. I prefer for mice by that name (or any name) to remain within the pages of a book. Otherwise, I need a ten-foot pole.

There's my completely irrelevant story for the day :)

AlleluiaLu said...

Thank you, Carrie, for running this challenge. It has really made more of a Narnia-lover out of me than I already was. That 1000 questions book is planting the seeds of a Narnia-themed party! My daughter and her friends are real Narnia-lovers, too. They have seen both movies countless times and eagerly anticipate the next release. They aren't toddlers though - they are 17! But they LOVE Narnia (and they still color, too!)

Kipi said...

Both very interesting looking books, Carrie. I hadn't heard of the C.S. Lewis book before, either, but it looks like one I would enjoy.

PBS had a special a while back called The Question of God about the lives of C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud which I purchased recently on DVD along with the book that it was based on. It was a very interesting comparison of the two men's lives. I haven't read the book yet, but the DVD was very good.

Carmen said...

I have some nieces that would love to have these books. Please enter me.
desertrose5173 at gmail dot com
Thank you!

apple blossom said...

Wish I had known earlier about your Narnia challenge. However, I'd love to be entered in your book give away.

ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com

Anonymous said...

These both look fantastic! We're huge Narnia fans here.
Megret
musesofmegret (at) gmail (dot) com

Sylvia said...

Love the Narnia stories
sylviawhit@gmail.com

ibeeeg said...

Great post.
I do wish there was some Narnia stories geared down for the little ones to start experiencing the world.

Thanks for posting the SSC video. I have not seen that one. I enjoyed watching it.

Thanks for running this challenge, I must admit, I have not done very well. I plan on reading this week...gasp! Although, I do plan on carrying through until we are down with the series.

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