From: Susan Van Metre <svanmetre>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 23:07:07 -0500

I was lucky enough to discover Narnia on a family trip to England. My parents drove the four of us kids around in a rental van, stopping at a different B&B each night. Some owners would take one look at us kids, rumpled, desperate for a bathroom, and probably smelling of greasy snack food, and claim to be full. The ones that took pity on us were invariably the B&B?s in which children had lived. These were scruffy ones whose rooms were full of cast-off paperbacks, which I devoured faster than the buttered scones for breakfast. I found each of the seven books along route, as if by magic. It was thrilling, though ultimately disappointing, to read about the land beyond the wardrobe in the country where wardrobes were still so common. Every B&B had one, and I must have tried them all!
  Lewis drew on so many great story-telling sources, the Bible included. At the time I read them, it was his ancient Greek religious sources-the myths--that were most recognizable to me.

Susan Van Metre Senior Editor Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 115 West 18th Street New York, New York 10011

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Received on Tue 30 Nov 2004 10:07:07 PM CST