Narnia

“She did not shut it properly because she knew that it is very silly to shut oneself into a wardrobe, even if it is not a magic one.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

SPARE OOM. I wasn’t much of a reader as a child, yet my sister annoyingly would inhale books. My mum always said that “she would read Shakespeare just for fun”. I don’t know why I didn’t develop the bug for reading, it would have been much more helpful if I had, but instead I found expression and meaning in images instead of words (a precursor to what has become my career). My mum always read to us and I have fond memories of Enid Blyton classics and made-up Hedgehog stories read before bedtime.

Now in my house, reading at bedtime has always been a special ritual, along with a time to snuggle and stroke their hair, it’s special one-on-one time with just Mummy or Daddy. I’ve particularly enjoyed sharing Shirley Hughes, Oliver Jeffers and Roald Dahl.

Now that my son is 8, our bedtime stories have graduated on to some of the most timeless and thought-provoking stories written and it is truly a pleasure to not only read to him but to read them out loud to myself, for the first time.

I’m sure I was read C.S. Lewis as a child and memories meld with BBC adaptations. But to read ‘The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe’ in all its glorious, beautiful yet terrifying language with tears occasionally running down my cheeks… it has been a joy to hear and see my son’s reaction to hearing this 70-year-old story for the first time. “Oh no, she killed Aslan!” he said with such honesty and sadness, “It’s ok, let’s keep reading”.

I long for many more years of bedtime stories with my Lucy and Peter, I do hope they won’t feel too big too soon. I hope to share many more of my first readings of classic stories with them.