The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Four children escape the London Blitz by moving into a large country house, where young Lucy stumbles upon a magical world inside an old wardrobe. She returns with her siblings to find a land frozen in eternal winter under the rule of the White Witch. This portal fantasy by C. S. Lewis first appeared in 1950 through publisher Geoffrey Bles and became the most widely held book from his series in libraries worldwide. The story spans roughly 200 pages and features illustrations by Pauline Baynes that remain standard in many modern editions. While published as the first entry in The Chronicles of Narnia, later versions often place it second based on the internal timeline of the seven books written between 1950 and 1956. The quartet fulfills an ancient prophecy when they meet Aslan, a great lion who sacrifices himself to save Lucy before rising again to defeat the witch. He crowns the four children as kings and queens, restoring spring to Narnia. Lewis dedicated this volume to his goddaughter Lucy Barfield, the daughter of his friend Owen Barfield. Critics and readers have consistently ranked the novel highly; it placed ninth on the BBC's The Big Read poll in 2003 and earned spots on Time magazine lists for both best young-adult fiction and top English novels since 1923.[edit]