The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis

The Locale: Olivia and Susan’s Home

The Book: Although the sixth book published in The Chronicles of Narnia series, this is the first book, the prequel to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Set in London during the early 1900s, the main characters are two pre-teen children, Digory and Polly. Digory is the younger Professor Kirke from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The two children have adventures after being transported to other worlds by Digory’s evil and nutty Uncle Andrew. This book features the creation of Narnia and an introduction Aslan and to the wicked White Witch, Queen Jadis, who is said to be so beautiful that most men would do anything for her.

The Fun:  After catching up and eating up, the fun began with a grouping activity. After secretly writing the name of an animal on a post-it, the girls had to categorize themselves into groups--without any guidance. We ended up with two groups--egg laying animals (which included a dragon, a spider, and a platypus) and wild, furry animals (a wolf, a tiger, and a cheetah).

Once in their groups, the girls traveled around the house to review the book, brainstorming to questions written on chart paper. Spending one minute at each chart, the girls had to ponder--How did the book relate to biblical stories? How are Charn and Narnia different? List characters and settings from the book. How did the book relate to other books in the series.

After brainstorming about the book, the girls sat down at the Daughters of Eve Royal Table for a group discussion. One at a time, the girls drew cards from a pile in the center of the table and answered open ended questions. Discussion starters included I really liked it when...., The book was good except...., It was funny when..., In my opinion....

It was then time to stretch and get everybody moving. Susan led the group in the Queen Jadis Jump and Jive, a freeze dance. Beginning as the first Queen Jadis, Susan danced while the girls copied her moves because, as we know, Queen Jadis can make anyone, except Aslan, do her bidding. When the music stopped, the girls froze--much like the people in Charn--and the next Queen Jadis was crowned. The Daughters of Eve all agreed that this was great fun, such fun that two rounds had to be played.


The Food:
Enchanted Apples with Narnia Nut Dip(Nutella)
Charn Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Archenland Black Forest Ham & Cheese Sandwiches
The Wood between the Worlds Pool Pop(Sodas)
Uncle Andrew is a NUT Trail Mix
Magic Wardrobe Mothballs (Cream Puffs)
Enchanted Apple Pie al la mode

The Vote: Emma presented her three books.

• The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau 
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The girls wrote their choices on a post-it, and after the votes were counted, the winner was The City of Ember. We’ll meet at Diana’s and Emma’s on December 4th.

Up Next: The BFG at Perri’s on October 30th, the day before Halloween.

Who Presents Next: Cassie. Please plan on hosting sometime in late January, early February.

Changes/Updates:
Mom’s decided that book choices should be emailed a week or so before the meeting, giving girls time to weigh their decisions and giving those, unable to attend, a chance to submit votes via email or phone.

After meeting on December 4th at Emma’s, we don’t expect to meet again until the end of January/first of February, giving all a rest for the holiday.