Through the Wardrobe: How C. S. Lewis Created Narnia

A lyrical nonfiction picture book about the inspired life of C. S. Lewis, the beloved author of the Chronicles of Narnia—from Free as a Bird author-illustrator Lina Maslo. Perfect for fans of The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown and Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White.

As a child, Clive Staples Lewis imagined many things . . .

heroic animals

and knights in armor

and a faraway land called Boxen.

He even thought of a new name for himself—at four years old, he decided he was more of a Jack.

As he grew up, though, Jack found that the real world was not as just as the one in his imagination. No magic could heal the sick or stop a war, and a bully’s words could pierce as sharply as a sword. So Jack withdrew into books and eventually became a well-known author for adults.

But he never forgot the epic tales of his boyhood, and one day a young girl’s question about an old family wardrobe inspired him to write a children’s story about a world hidden beyond its fur coats . . . a world of fauns and queens and a lion named Aslan. A world of battles between good and evil, where people learned courage and love and forgiveness.

A magical realm called Narnia.

And the books he would write about this kingdom would change his life and that of children the world over.