Fairies: Behind the Veil & Once Upon a Time Every book is a portal. Through it, we enter realms and times not our own. While there, we learn to see ourselves and our world differently, and come back changed: hopefully wiser, more courageous, more aware. But not all worlds are […]
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The True Myth “Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God’s […]
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Towards a Unified Theory of Magic “Magic is not about causing things that are beyond what is naturally possible, it is about causing things that are beyond the ordinary. Put another way, magic is not supernatural, but extraordinary.” Junius Johnson, “Introduction to Narnia” It started when I was preparing to […]
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Further Up and Further In Did you ever feel your way to the back of a closet, hoping to find that there was no back, that suddenly you were feeling not the smooth softness of clothes against your face, but the rough pricks of branches, hearing the crunch of snow […]
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The Chronicles of Narnia are one of the most beloved series of children’s books ever written. From the moment Lucy steps through the wardrobe and into another world, the reader is captivated. In the journey that follows, spanning the entire history of the world of Narnia from the moment before […]
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An Apology for Wonder “We men dream dreams, we work magic, we do good, we do evil. The dragons do not dream. They are dreams. They do not work magic: it is their substance, their being. They do not do; they are.” Ursula K. Leguin, The Farthest Shore Dragons delight […]
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“How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. […]
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C.S. Lewis’ fictional world of Narnia has delighted readers of all ages for generations. Though less detailed than his friend Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Lewis’ world of Narnia is nevertheless richly conceived and extensively detailed. Drawing upon all seven books, this class will explore the various details of this fantasy world, […]
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Here Be Dragons: A Literary Adventure & Apprenticeship in Wonder Reading takes us into other worlds, situations, and lives. Children are especially sensitive to this, and especially delight in it when it is done well. These classes expose children to the practices and pleasures of reading closely and well without […]
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