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Dear C.S. Lewis Academy Families,
C.S. Lewis Academy was named after the author C.S. Lewis. There are some in our school and community who do not know why the school is named after him. I thought that it would be a nice opportunity to write a little about the person for whom the school is named.
Mr. Clive Staples Lewis was born November 29, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland. He had a wonderful happy childhood. There was a large library crammed with books in his home. He loved having a library of books. Mr. Lewis’s favorite books were Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Secret Garden, by Francis Hodgson Burnett. As a teenager, Mr. Lewis learned to love poetry, especially the works of Virgil and Homer. He also developed an interest in modern languages, mastering French, German, and Italian.
As an adult Mr. Lewis served in the British army during WWI. After serving in the war, Mr. Lewis went to Oxford University where he studied Greek and Latin Literature, Philosophy and Ancient History, and English Literature, graduating with honors. After graduating he was offered a job as a teacher for Oxford. He remained at Oxford for 29 years before becoming a professor of medieval and renaissance literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1955.
Mr. Lewis began publishing his own books in 1933, The Pilgrim's Regress (1933), was about his own spiritual journey to Christian faith. Other works followed that won him acclaim not only as a writer of books on religious subjects, but also as a writer of academic works and popular novels. The Allegory of Love (1936), which is still considered a masterpiece today, was a history of love literature from the early Middle Ages to Shakespeare's time; Out of the Silent Planet (1938) was the first of a trilogy of science fiction novels, the hero of which is loosely modeled on Lewis's friend J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the children's classic The Hobbit.
Mr. Lewis started to write children’s books, however his peers thought it was a bad idea. They thought that the public would not take him as a serous writer. The first Narnia book for children was published in 1950; we know it as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He continued to write six more Narnia books. Although they were not well received at first by critics and reviewers, the books gained in popularity through word of mouth. The Narnia books have since sold more than 100 million copies and are among the most beloved books of classic children's literature.
One of my favorite books is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; in it, four children—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy—go to stay with a reclusive old professor in a mysterious country house. While playing a game, Lucy, the youngest, hides in a wardrobe and discovers that it leads to a magical world called Narnia. This land, which is inhabited by talking animals, is ruled by the lion Aslan, a good and powerful king. Narnia, however, had come under the spell of the evil White Witch, who had caused it to be always winter but never Christmas there.
Before Lucy can get back to tell the others about Narnia, her rather bad-tempered brother Edmund discovers it for himself. He is taken up by the White Witch, who lures him to her side with Turkish Delight, a soft, jelly-like candy, and promises of gifts and powers. It is only when Aslan sacrifices his own life that Edmund is saved.
Aslan, however, comes back to life. He and his followers win a great battle over the forces of evil, and the four children are made kings and queens of Narnia. At the end of the book, after many years have passed, the children return from Narnia the same way they came into it, through the wardrobe, only to discover that no time has passed at all. Although their adventure appears to be over, the professor tells them that they will again find themselves in Narnia someday, when they least expect it.
Mr. Lewis first had the idea to write Narnia, a book for children in 1939. At this time, many children were evacuated from England's major cities and sent to live in the countryside because of the threat of bombing during World War II. Lewis had opened his home, The Kilns, to some of these young refugees, one of whom had been fascinated by a wardrobe there, imagining that there was another way out of it through the other side. This image struck a chord with Lewis, who had first read about a magic wardrobe as a boy, in The Aunt and Anabel by Edith Nesbit.
The above information about C.S, Lewis was obtained from C. S. Lewis: The Creator of Narnia – Biography by Ann-Marie Imbornoni
As we see, Mr. Lewis was a man who wrote and appreciated literature. C.S. Lewis Academy has a focus on literacy, which opens the world of imagination for our students. We need to inspire and motivate our students to love the world of reading. If one can read, there is no limit for growth and opportunities. C.S. Lewis Academy’s teachers can only do so much to inspire and motivate the students to love reading; we need to have a partnership with our families to continue the process in the home. I would like to challenge each of our C.S. Lewis Academy families to find a book that your family would enjoy and read together as a family and discuss what has been read. Doing this will help your family have a greater appreciation for literature.
Warm Regards,
Vickie Peterson, Director |
