The Resurrection of the Chronicles of Narnia

Why a timeless classic is just that:

I haven't read any Harry Potter myself — a problem I hope to correct in the coming weeks — but I have read plenty of C. S. Lewis, and in particular his seven-volume classic, The Chronicles of Narnia. These books of course were written with children in mind, even though Lewis had none of his own. (Isn't it strange how some of our most popular children's writers, such as Margaret Wise Brown and Dr. Seuss, were childless?) And they may be best experienced as children, though their aims are as mature as anything found in literature.

That's because the fundamental purpose of the Narnia stories is to convey the reality of Christian truth — a project that became Lewis's lifework following his conversion in 1931, after his friends Hugo Dyson and J. R. R. Tolkien convinced him of it during a nighttime walk. Lewis spent the next 15 years or so giving the lectures and writing the books that would make him the 20th century's most famous Christian apologist (Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, etc.). Then, in 1949, he began writing the Narnia stories in earnest, adding to his reputation.