Laurel Guillen's Blog - Posts Tagged "teens"
Part 2: The Chronicles of Narnia, Introduce young readers to Christian authors
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book I read in the Chronicles of Narnia, marked a milestone in my reading life as a middle-grader. A book about a magical world with fascinating beasts only a wardrobe away from our own!
After Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time introduced me to science fiction, The Chronicles of Narnia opened my eyes to the world of fantasy. I gobbled up the entire series, always impatient for the next appearance of Aslan.
I have read hundreds of fantasy books since then, but I can still say that none of the magically imbued, super-powerful characters I’ve read about have ever affected me like the noble lion did. I love Aslan, and always will.
Decades later I would read C.S. Lewis’s great works of Christian non-fiction, but the groundwork for my soul’s understanding was already written on my heart.
After Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time introduced me to science fiction, The Chronicles of Narnia opened my eyes to the world of fantasy. I gobbled up the entire series, always impatient for the next appearance of Aslan.
I have read hundreds of fantasy books since then, but I can still say that none of the magically imbued, super-powerful characters I’ve read about have ever affected me like the noble lion did. I love Aslan, and always will.
Decades later I would read C.S. Lewis’s great works of Christian non-fiction, but the groundwork for my soul’s understanding was already written on my heart.
Part 3 The Lord of the Rings, Introduce young readers to Christian authors
It was the summer between seventh and eighth grade, and a town librarian who knew my thirst for books handed me a copy of The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. It was wholly new and wonderful thing and when I returned to him asking for more, he handed me the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings.
At first, I was taken aback by all the genealogies and the strange languages. But my 13-year-old self didn’t get bogged down, I just kept reading. This was the first time I’d entered a fictional world that so absorbed me: the real world seemed dim and inconsequential by comparison. I distinctly remember one summer weekend when I started the second book, the Two Towers, and did not sleep until I finished the Return of the King about forty hours later. In the middle of one night, I reached a climactic scene in which an evil being is defeated by someone who is not who they seem to be. I jumped up and went running around a dark, sleeping house, I was so thrilled. The movies that have been made of Tolkien’s works may be fabulous, but nothing compares to reading the series that was voted the best work of fiction in the 20th century. Make sure every teenager you know gets that chance.
At first, I was taken aback by all the genealogies and the strange languages. But my 13-year-old self didn’t get bogged down, I just kept reading. This was the first time I’d entered a fictional world that so absorbed me: the real world seemed dim and inconsequential by comparison. I distinctly remember one summer weekend when I started the second book, the Two Towers, and did not sleep until I finished the Return of the King about forty hours later. In the middle of one night, I reached a climactic scene in which an evil being is defeated by someone who is not who they seem to be. I jumped up and went running around a dark, sleeping house, I was so thrilled. The movies that have been made of Tolkien’s works may be fabulous, but nothing compares to reading the series that was voted the best work of fiction in the 20th century. Make sure every teenager you know gets that chance.
