C.S. Lewis Letters to Children

by C. S. Lewis

Other authorsLyle W. Dorsett (Editor), Marjorie Lamp Mead (Editor)
Hardcover, 1985

Status

Available

Publication

New York : Macmillan, 1985.

Description

A collection of letters from the English author of the Narnia books to a variety of children.

User reviews

LibraryThing member ltjennysbooks
I have a rocky relationship with C.S. Lewis. The longer we are apart, the more he bothers me. I am sensibly buying a lot of C.S. Lewis’s books, so that I will be statistically more likely to read his stuff frequently, because in reality I love him an awful lot. And this book, his letters to
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children, mainly about his Narnia books, is exactly the reason (well, one of many) that I love him. He does not patronize, and it’s so easy to patronize a kid. He writes in a serious but good-natured way, and answers their questions very politely. Behold an excerpt:

Dear Lucy,

I am so glad that you like the Narnian stories and it was nice of you to write and tell me. I love E. Nesbit too and I think that I have learned a lot from her about how to write stories of this kind. Do you know Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings? I think you wd. like it. I am also bad at Maths and it is a continual nuisance to me – I get muddled over my change in shops. I hope you’ll have better luck and get over the difficulty! It makes life a lot easier.

It makes me, I think, more humble than proud to know that Aslan has allowed me to be the means of making Him more real to you. Because He could have used anyone – as He made a donkey preach a good sermon to Balaam.

Perhaps, in return, you will sometimes say a prayer for me?

With all good wishes,

Yours sincerely,
C.S. Lewis

I have this book of letters that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, and the editors of it have cleverly chosen a selection of letters relating to Lord of the Rings. I bought it one time when I was in California learning Chinese (not very successfully though I can still count quite high), and although I do not count myself among the die-hard Lord of the Rings fans in my family (didn’t even read it until the films came out – I know, I know), I was captivated by Tolkien’s letters about it. I wish someone would do a similar thing with C.S. Lewis and letters relating to his writing. Not just Narnia but all of his writing. How good would that be?
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LibraryThing member Theodore.Zachariades
This is a delightful title. Lewis at his most authentic and unassuming as he addresses some of the vast mail he received from children around the globe. I could not put it down. I had read a few of his letters to children in an anthology before but this book is only letters to his younger fans, and
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Lewis is a pure pleasure to read.
A highly recommended read!
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LibraryThing member BenKline
A cute but ultimately dull little collection of letters from CS Lewis to kids, mainly those who knew him (like his god-daughter Sarah) or those who read Narnia. Was interesting to see the letters written to him as the series was being published. His letters discussing poetry and such with 'Joan'
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and a few others was nice, and his critiques of their works were both well done as an adult and caring as a friend. Ultimately though this collection is too small a sampling, and doesn't contain all that much to add to knowing CS "Jack" Lewis.
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LibraryThing member danhibbert
Very difficult to get a copy of this book but throughly glad I persevered and found a used copy. I always enjoy CS Lewis greatly and this little book had a very special quality about it and I found it immensely endearing. To hear both the voices of children and CS Lewis’ replies to them really
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shows so much about his personality and his faith.

Favorite quote

“A perfect man would never act from a sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people) like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits etc.) can do the journey on their own!”


Highly recommend!
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