Question re: Chronicles of Narnia
 

I have the Chronicles of Narnia set, from a long time ago. According to my set The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe comes first. My daughter came home with The Magician's Nephew today. Her copy says it is the first of the series. I have that one as #6. She really wants to read them in order. How do I know which really came first? The copyright on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is 1950, and the copyright on the Magician's Nephew is 1955. But I know this does not always mean anything.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me and my daughter?

I am not an authority on this, but my understanding is that the original order of the books (which I suspect you have) is the order in which they were written - or otherwise sequenced by Lewis himself. (edit - maybe not. see the wikipedia article)

Within the last decade or so, the publishers have resequenced the books into chronological order (as in, based on the time in Narnian history). That means The Magician's Nephew comes before everything else, since it describes the creation of Narnia.

Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chr...#Reading_order

My personal opinion is that you should read them in the old order, not the new one. Partially because I happen to think The Magician's Nephew is not the best of the series, and you need to start out strong in order to hook a kid into reading the rest of it, but also because I think the characters are introduced better through Lewis's original sequence. Aslan is a mysterious figure in Wardrobe, but less so in Magician's Nephew.

Kind of like the Star Wars saga - I happen to think that kids who've never seen any of the films should start with Episodes IV-VI and then go back to I-III.

Thank you so much for your reply. I will have her read them in the original order. I am sure once I compare it to Star Wars my daughter will understand.

I agree with the above. You need to read them in the written order to fully appreciate them. That's how I read them, and I think it makes my favorite two books, (Magicians Nephew and Prince Caspian) more meaningful.

Think of it like Pulp Fiction: If you had the choice, would you watch the original, or a version that was in strict chronological order? I think the order in which the information is revealed adds to the story. Example: I can imagine Lion Witch and Wardrobe being very different if you already were familiar with Aslan.

balderdash and twistedmosaic have the analogies exactly right. I'm not sure why publishers decided to start putting it out in chronological order? :confused:

this was great information. Thank you so much. She is so excited to read them in the order they were published.

it's kinda like star wars, they were written out of order.