Order! Order!

Who knew? Alright, maybe everyone but me. That's O.K.

A couple of summers ago, the kids and I were standing in the dentist's office talking with the receptionist about stuff. We got on the subject of The Chronicles of Narnia and how much we loved reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. We were talking about how we were looking forward to seeing the movie when our dentist walked up and asked if we had read any of the other books. I told him that we had read The Magician's Nephew. I also told him how happy I was that we had already read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe before we read The Magician's Nephew. He told me, "Wait right there!" and he disappeared into an office.

He came back with another one of the dentists in the office. The other dentist was carrying a little yellow sticky note which he handed to me. He said, "Here is the order in which you should read the books!" He then told me about how C.S. Lewis had written them in a different order (the publication order) than they were numbered (the chronological order)by HarperCollins publishers.

I really didn't understand it all, and I really haven't put too much thought into it until recently. I do think it's interesting that the movies are coming out--so far--in the publication order rather than the chronological order.

Publication Order Compared with Chronological Order

Publication Order
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
Prince Caspian (1951)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
The Silver Chair (1953)
The Horse and His Boy (1954)
The Magician's Nephew (1955)
The Last Battle (1956)

Chronological Order
The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle


I found this great article about the reading order on Wikipedia. I didn't realize that there was such a difference in opinion among the fans of the series as to what order the books should be read.

As for us, we are going to continue reading them in the publication order since that is how we began.

Another great thing about blogging...now I can throw away this little yellow sticky note that I keep misplacing!