Prince Caspian

So what can we say about this book? They made it into a movie and it was awful. This book is all about faith, faith in things that haven't been seen, faith in things that have been forgotten, and faith in yourself. By now Narnia has fallen into the hands of the Telmarines, a group of humans that hate all things magical and done everything they can to wipe out the talking animals, dwarves and other magical folk. Our young Prince Caspian is the only one who really believes in magic and quite frankly he's the only one who wants to get all the talking beasts back. This book is the one that is most riddled with allegory, so I will make it brief. Faith, believing in things you can't see. Aslan comes to save the day again along with the help of the other children. Honestly, the only reason I ever read this one is because it sets up the next book. My favorite book. So look for that post to be out soon!

Just Because!

We went to the lake again!

It's a big world.

So much to consider.

Cliffside at the Great Salt Lake.

Smile for the camera!

This is my new friend!

Billy the Buoy.

A tire!

Oooh

Ahhh

Billy followed me home!

The Horse and His Boy

What is there to say about this book? It takes place during the reign of King Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy, a time of relative peace for Narnia. You know what, I was just going to write a synopsis of this book while pointing out some themes and junk, but now I'm not going to do that. I'm just gonna let it gush. This book is great. It is purely a cinderella story, kid has a terrible step father, runs away with a talking horse, makes a new friend out of a runaway princess (riding another talking horse) and makes his way towards Narnia. But what makes this such a great book is the storytelling. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on storytelling. So from here I'm going off on a tangent.
Storytelling.
It's becoming a lost art. Or maybe it's just becoming less important, or less apparent in today's world. Especially in the spoken form, a well spoken story can send shivers up your spine and put goosebumps on your arms. Yet a poorly done story, even if it is something amazing, will leave you with nothing. In my own personal view, the only thing I can remember about poorly worded stories are how often the person said, "um" or "like" or any number of filler words that drive me insane! A story is like a river, it has flow, it has a current, it is supposed to take you away. Maybe that's why I love these books so much, because it's good storytelling. Plain and simple. I already know what is going to happen, but I enjoy reading them because even though these are children's book and I've read them a dozen times. I still get lost in the flow. EVERY. DAMN. TIME. It's magical. It's simple. It's beautiful. It's just good storytelling.