XPost: alt.usage.english, rec.arts.books.childrens, alt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: boxhill@verizon.net   
      
   Derek Janssen wrote:   
   > JF wrote:   
   >> X-No-Archive: yes   
   >> In message , Steve Hayes   
   >>  writes   
   >>   
   >>> I suggest, if you read the Narnia stories, that you start with "The   
   >>> lion, the   
   >>> witch and the wardrobe", and go on reading them in publication   
   >>> order,   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> That is stupid advice! Read Jack Lewis's opening paragraphs in 'The   
   >> Magician's Nephew' as to why it's important to read it first!   
   >>   
   >> Taking your advice, reading the LWW first, means that the wardrobe   
   >> exists before its made from the wood of a tree from Narnia!   
   >   
   > Taking your advice, and reading "Nephew" first, means why the hell   
   > should we care about four bored kids who wandered in out of the blue??   
   >   
   > Derek Janssen   
   > ejanss@comcast.net   
      
   As it happens, I read The Magician's Nephew first, quite by accident. I was   
   in third grade, and I got it at a school swapmeet. (This must have been   
   sometime around 1961, and the books were not widely known amongst the   
   children I knew. I had never heard of them.) I then went on to read the rest   
   in order.   
      
   It didn't harm my experience of the series a bit. Frankly, I don't think it   
   matters much, except that since TMN is weaker than the alternate first   
   volume, kids are perhaps more likely to persevere if they don't start with   
   it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)