The Narnia Code

As a little girl, I loved the Narnia books.  I read them all, several times.  The wonderful adventures of Peter, Susan, Lucy, and Edmund, and later Eustice and Jill, carried me away (ok, they still do!).  And I always felt that, while the spiritual messages within the books and the connections with each other weren't always clear to me, that there was a plan in the books.  In Narnia Code, Michael Ward, who has spent his academic career studying CS Lewis, solves the mystery.  Using his knowledge of CS Lewis--what he loved to study, his views on literature and storytelling, and his other writings--Ward gives the readers a compelling, exciting, and altogether unexpected key to all seven of the Narnia books.  Using Lewis' poem, "The Planets," Ward illustrates how Lewis deliberately hid the key to the spiritual meaning of each book in symbolism of the seven "planets" of medieval times (sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn).  Ward's excitement about having unlocked this secret code is evident in his writing style, and it's contagious!  I found the book to be insightful and fascinating.  I loved learning about the keys to each book, as well as learning more about CS Lewis himself.  I could not put this book down.  If you love the Narnia series, if your kids love Narnia--you have to buy this book!