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Thursday, July 01, 2010

We're off to Narnia! (Giveaway to get you on board!)

Chronicles of NarniaHurray! I so look forward to this challenge every year because going to Narnia is not only entertaining, but I find it energizing. C.S. Lewis was a master storyteller and the way he wove scriptural truths into this series bolsters my own faith.

Once upon a time I read the Chronicles of Narnia in a week. So if you look on my sidebar here you'll see a label for "Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge" and a "Narnia Week." My more thoughtful posts are definitely under "Narnia Week" but I am hoping to dig a little deeper during this particular month, focusing my entire time and attention on Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

You should know that I approach The Chronicles of Narnia believing them to be written, as Doug Wilson calls it in his audio lecture series, What I Learned in Narnia, a "great supposal." Suppose Christ were to have entered into another world and suppose He had another name? I don't believe that C.S. Lewis wrote these books to be an allegory, but I do believe he wrote them to introduce children to the concepts of Christianity. I explained why I think that when I was reading Narnia back in 2008.

That explained, I've decided to read through Voyage of the Dawn Treader in conjunction with my reading of the Book of Proverbs and I want to see what can parts of this book illustrate Biblical principles. Not that C.S. Lewis intended this, mind you. I just want to do it. Why? Because I think that sometimes we can best learn how to live through stories (hence, Jesus told parables) and I think there are some good Biblical illustrations in the Narnia series. I'm choosing Voyage of the Dawn Treader primarily because the movie is due to release in December and I want to make sure I have a good grasp on it before I see it. =)

In the meantime, I invite you to come along this journey for pleasure and entertainment! Bring your kids! I found a few light chapter book adaptations that I'll be reading through with Bookworm1. I'll be sharing more about those as we go along.

For a synopsis of the Chronicles of Narnia books you can click on that link and it will take you to a brief description of each of the books in the series.

But what's a challenge without a prize, right? (That always makes it more fun.)

I've decided to split things up. To help get you into the challenge I have TWO gently used copies of The Magician's Nephew to give away to two of you. This is the first book in the series, chronologically speaking. Lewis wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first, but if you want to understand Narnia history better, it's best to start with The Magician's Nephew.

Then! At the conclusion of the challenge, I have some Narnia gift books, guide books and fun Narnia things to giveaway which I'll tell you about later. The only thing I'll say on that for now is: The more you read, the more chances you have to win!

This challenge will run for the whole month of July. Of course, I would love it if you let us know that you plan on participating in the challenge. On Friday, July 30th I will conclude the challenge with a post wherein you can link up all of your Narnia related posts from this month. I'll draw a winner from THAT post to determine who will win the "Narnia Prize Package."

In order win a copy of The Magician's Nephew simply leave a comment on THIS post and I'll announce the winner next Friday, July 9th. This contest is open to U.S. Residents AND Canadians. (Because I just can't see leaving the Canadians out of RtK's two reading challenges!)

The main point of this challenge: HAVE FUN!

Further Up and Further In!

19 comments:

Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...

I'm in! I'm in! Here's my post ---> http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2010/07/01/narnia-challenge/

:-)

Heidi said...

You'll be proud of me - I read The Magician's Nephew last week - trying to get a head start on the challenge. So far, that's as far as I've gotten though. :)

Gidget Girl Reading said...

we are so in the girls have their books I have mine and it's going to be a great fun family read aloud month!!

we don't own this book so it would be so great to win!

Christi said...

I'm in, embarrassed to say that I have never read these books. Don't know how they got passed me, maybe they weren't encouraged in school. I'm going to try to get my boys to join in too.

Sky said...

I always can use another CS Lewis book!

Renee said...

What a great give away ~ count me in! Thanks for hosting this.

Janet said...

I need to give this some thought. I'm thinking I might read 'Inside Narnia' this month. We're leaving for the weekend today, but I'll try and get a post up when we get back.

Long live Narnia!

Teresa Dawn said...

I've read the entire series at LEAST 10 times over, most likely many more times. Usually I'll pick it up and read all 7 books within 3 or 4 days...

I absolutely LOVE them :) Can't wait for the new movie in Decemember either.

You'd think I'd be sick of them, but I'm not in the slightest.

Mark Baker said...

I actually just started rereading the series last month, so I am in for two books. Here's my post about what I hope to accomoplish this month.

http://markcarstairs.blogspot.com/2010/07/accepting-narnia-reading-challenge.html

(Feel free to take me out of the running for these books. I'll let someone who doesn't have the books win them.)

Heather VanTimmeren said...

Count me and my kids in too! We might be listening more than reading, but I hope to get through the whole series. I've never blogged about them, so I'll try to keep up with that too. I'd love to win The Magician's Nephew!

Kathleen T. Jaeger said...

I am in! My favorite way for new people to be introduced to Narnia, though, is through the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe & experience how those characters first found it and then go back and read the history of it later after falling in love with Narnia & asking some why questions later. I will post an intro to the challenge on my blog later. I have had out of town company for a week. And also someone else can also win the books, I have a couple of copies already. Thanks so much!

Stephanie Kay said...

I'm in for listening rather than reading. And I might try to find the other movies to watch this month.

Lah said...

I LOVE this series. And I had NO IDEA Voyage of the Dawn Treader was coming out this year!!!!

So excited that you are doing this challenge again. I'm going to follow along with you all this month :)

Tracysweetangl said...

I would love to win this for my nephew. He would love it. Thanks for the chance.

Stephanie said...

I know you saw my post, but I was out of town and couldn't comment. :)

http://herdofsteph.blogspot.com/2010/07/chronicles-of-narnia-reading-challenge.html

Sarah E said...

Please enter me in this giveaway! I would love to read this book.

familyhistree at yahoo dot com

Sarah E

rbooth43 said...

I would love to win this book to give to my son because he loves the Narnia movies.

rbooth43@yahoo.com

Abigail Ann said...

Forgot to come and sign up on the first, but I'm definatly going to have a go at this.

Here's a link to where you can find my Narnia posts on my blog: http://abigailannreading.blogspot.com/search/label/Narnia%20Reading%20Challenge

Annette W. said...

We only own the anthology-like book, so I think it'd be fun to collect the individuals, too!

Tomorrow I'm posting about my plans to be part of the challenge and inviting others to do the same!

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