I read these books as a 9-year old and loved them.  I have been eagerly waiting for my daughter to become old enough so that I could read it aloud to her.  She is now eight and I have gone through half of the series.  She absolutely adores them and I am now cursed in that she demands that I read the rest to her.

That's right - I feel I have brought this suffering on myself, for much to my surprise, I realized how frightfully simplistic and boring this work is!!  Amazon says that this work should be read three times: in childhood, early adulthood, and late in life.  I seriously object to that.  While young children (nine and below) will adore these books, it is certainly not for anyone older.  The stories are painfully dull with the Christian allegory so blindingly obvious that it is treacly and sanctimonious.  In our digital, media-saturated age, I wonder if any child above the age of 9 can enjoy, or be moved, by the book as Lewis intended.  The stories are too simplistic with little character development - i.e., rather than the young heroes overcoming conflict via personal growth or understanding, Aslan magically resolves everything for them as long as they believe in him.  Yes, this is a Christian allegory and so Faith must no doubt play a central theme; however, the books seem to prescribe a children's formula calling for too much passivity mixed with blind faith.  Perhaps children must be taught faith first, but as a parent, I don't feel comfortable with the treacly message given to my eight year-old.  Certainly, older kids will not be won over by this story.

Finally, I should say something about the Britishisms in this book:  obviously this is a book written in the British English of an Oxbridge Don from the first half of the 20th century, and it shows.  There are a lot of Britishisms that are hard to explain (some passages I didn't even understand!)... I was busy trying to "Americanize" many passages as I was reading aloud, which really kept me on my toes.
I read these books as a 9-year old and loved them. I have been eagerly waiting for my daughter to become old enough so that I could read it aloud to her. She is now eight and I have gone through half of the series. She absolutely adores them and I am now cursed in that she demands that I read the rest to her. That's right - I feel I have brought this suffering on myself, for much to my surprise, I realized how frightfully simplistic and boring this work is!! Amazon says that this work should be read three times: in childhood, early adulthood, and late in life. I seriously object to that. While young children (nine and below) will adore these books, it is certainly not for anyone older. The stories are painfully dull with the Christian allegory so blindingly obvious that it is treacly and sanctimonious. In our digital, media-saturated age, I wonder if any child above the age of 9 can enjoy, or be moved, by the book as Lewis intended. The stories are too simplistic with little character development - i. e., rather than the young heroes overcoming conflict via personal growth or understanding, Aslan magically resolves everything for them as long as they believe in him. Yes, this is a Christian allegory and so Faith must no doubt play a central theme; however, the books seem to prescribe a children's formula calling for too much passivity mixed with blind faith. Perhaps children must be taught faith first, but as a parent, I don't feel comfortable with the treacly message given to my eight year-old. Certainly, older kids will not be won over by this story. Finally, I should say something about the Britishisms in this book:  obviously this is a book written in the British English of an Oxbridge Don from the first half of the 20th century, and it shows. There are a lot of Britishisms that are hard to explain (some passages I didn't even understand! )... I was busy trying to "Americanize" many passages as I was reading aloud, which really kept me on my toes.