C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller Unit Study{Review}

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Heroes play an important part in childhood.  Finding heroes worth emulating can be difficult in today’s environment.  This is why I am pleased that YWAM Publishing offers a variety of biographies in their Christian Heroes: Then & Now series from which my children can choose.

Since we love The Chronicles of Narnia and recently studied WWII, we chose to review C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller .  We also received the accompanying study guide.

Story Overview

The book begins with a two-year old Clive Staples Lewis and his insistence that everyone call him Jack–a nickname that continued throughout his life.  It covers the death of his mother and his father’s spiral into grief.  It also includes his subsequent time in an abusive boarding school.  He, thankfully, was never the recipient of physical abuse.

It follows his journey from abandoning what little faith he held to eventually rediscovering it under the friendship of J.R.R. Tolkien.  It also includes his relationship with the Moore family, whom he came to regard as his own.  It ends with his marriage to Joy Gresham and his death.  Throughout the book is woven in the two wars he lived through and his part in them.  As well as the conception of the books he wrote, how they came about and challenges he faced.

Possible Areas of Concern

The authors do well at handling sensitive topics and giving the right amount of information for young readers.  For parents, there are a few moments in the books that, depending on the age and curiosity of the child, they may wish to address.

Faith

The first of these is Lewis’s “aha” moment when discussing religion with Tolkien.  Tolkien mentions that his problem is that he lacks the imagination necessary for faith.  They discuss how he is more than willing to accept the fantasy surrounding mythology, but quick to dismiss the real events of Christianity.  For Lewis this is a real turning point in how he approaches his own beliefs.

Marriage

The last two occur towards the end of the book and involve his wife Joy.  Lewis first enters into a civil marriage with Joy as she is about to lose her Visa.  After Joy ends up in the hospital and is diagnosed with terminal cancer, the two realize they are also in love and desire to be married spiritually as well.  However, because Joy is a divorcee with two sons, the Angelican Church will not condone their marriage.  Jack is able to convince an Angelican vicar that since her first husband was divorced prior to their marriage that Joy’s first marriage didn’t count.  The vicar agrees and consents to marry them.

Substitution

Following her return home, Joy is in a lot of pain.  Jack remembers a friend during the war telling him about a “substitution” theory where God would allow one individual to bear another’s pain.  Jack decides to pray for God to give him some of Joy’s pain.

Master Storyteller is narrated from an omniscient view point.  This narration style is different from other books in the series as mentioned in a note to the reader at the end of the book.  However, it was necessary in order to tell the story from a broader angle as Lewis was more private about certain aspects of his life.  While it does have a different feel that the personal narration style of others in the series, such as Corrie Ten Boom, it didn’t make it less interesting or engaging.

Study Guide

The Study Guide is a well-spring of activities and information.  My children are always keen on the Chapter Questions to help guide their reading.  But those are just the tip of the ice burg.

There are Bible verses, display corners, ideas for exploration, community links and social studies, related themes and even a culminating event marking the end of the study.  A plethora of ideas from which you can choose.  Each will enrich your study and really make this era and this hero come alive.  There is also an expansive list of other books and resources given for further study.

Overall

What I like about this kaleidoscope of information is that it allows your child to pick and chose what activities interest them.  It also allows them to do some delight directed learning.  My daughter liked the Social Studies section because it helped to give her a visual of the places and locations she was reading about.

We are always pleased with our selections from YWAM.  I feel like by the end of each book my children come away with another Christian hero they can look up to.

Other Crew members reviewed books on different Christian hero’s, so be sure to head over and check them out!