Over the years of the Victoria Classics Book Club, our group has grown to encompass thousands of members connected by a love of reading. Below, find discussion questions for past volumes, which can be explored further on our Book Selections page. We also invite you to join the ongoing conversation on our Facebook page, where you will meet a delightful coterie of devoted readers.
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
C. S. Lewis’s beloved The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe follows four children who step through the back of a seemingly ordinary armoire into the magical world of Narnia, brimming with characters—some kind, some cruel, but all memorable. New York Times best-selling author Patti Callahan also captivates us with Once Upon a Wardrobe, a companion novel to Lewis’s classic. In this heartwarming story, set in 1950—the year the original tale was released—we meet a University of Oxford student who sets out to answer her young brother’s question: “Where did Narnia come from?”
We are enthralled with the way Callahan weaves this companion tale to Lewis’s beloved classic and are excited to present them together. Is this your first time reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, or is it a childhood favorite for either yourself or your children? What are your impressions of this timeless treasure?
In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first of seven books in C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia series, we are introduced to four siblings: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and the youngest of them all, Lucy. For safety’s sake, they are sent to live with an old professor in the English countryside while London is subjected to air raids during World War II. As the eldest, Peter seems more serious and responsible, while young Lucy is the most curious of the quartet. Which character do you relate to most? When thinking of yourself and your own siblings, who do you think would have been the first to walk through the back of the wardrobe into Narnia?
In the last chapters of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, we finally experience the much-anticipated arrival of Aslan. Lewis writes, “For when they tried to look at Aslan’s face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes; and then they found they couldn’t look at him and went all trembly.” What are your impressions of this heroic character? If you read this book in your youth, how have your perceptions changed in revisiting the tale? What feelings or emotions does this “children’s story” kindle within you?
Continuing our thoughts from this week’s discussion question, chefs in the Victoria test kitchens developed a delicious recipe for Turkish Delight. Find this tempting specialty—a perfectly pink treat to make for Valentine’s Day—in our special book club menu.
As we begin Patti Callahan’s Once Upon a Wardrobe, we meet Megs Devonshire, a student at the University of Oxford in England. She loves facts and figures but doesn’t give a fig for the “made-up stories” that captivate her bedridden brother, George. When he becomes infatuated with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and asks his sister, “Where did Narnia come from?” she sets out to find the answer for her beloved sibling. Do you identify more with the no-nonsense Meg or the fantasy-filled George?
Author Patti Callahan set Once Upon a Wardrobe in 1950—the same year of the acclaimed release of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which was the first of seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia series. Have you read any of the others? Which is your favorite—and why?
As we follow along in Once Upon a Wardrobe, Megs goes straight to the source to find the answer to George’s question about the origins of Narnia. Considering Mr. Lewis’s prominence in literary circles and his standing in the academic world, it took quite a bit of courage for Megs to approach him. Can you think of a situation where you had to collect all your courage to accomplish a task?
As Christmas approaches in Once Upon a Wardrobe, George’s fervent wish is to visit Dunluce Castle in Ireland, the inspiration for Narnia’s Cair Paravel. Megs knows this would be impossible for the invalid child—until her friend Padraig shows up on “Christmas Eve eve” with his father’s car and a trunkful of plans. Knowing what this would mean to her brother, Megs throws reason to the wind and the three of them set off on a great adventure. Have you ever done anything that spontaneously that turned into a wondrous experience?
When Mr. Lewis regales Megs with his stories in Once Upon a Wardrobe, do you recognize some people in the author’s own life that show up as characters in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Is there an aspect of Lewis’s history that surprised you? If you wrote a children’s story, can you think of people in your own life who would make great characters?
Author Patti Callahan begins her book Once Upon a Wardrobe with a quote by C. S. Lewis: “Sometimes fairy stories may say best what’s to be said.” Looking back on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and fairy tales from your childhood, do you agree with him? What lessons have you learned from these stories that have guided you as an adult? As we close our discussion on both The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Once Upon a Wardrobe, do you have any final thoughts on either title?
Find Victoria Classics Book Club resources—including discussion questions, companion materials, and a reader forum—at Victorimag.com!