C. S. Lewis

Gr 7—9—Hamilton traces Lewis's life from his beginnings in Belfast to his final days, and covers his religious, academic, and popular writings. She includes much of his involvement with Mrs. Janie Moore, although conceding that the nature of their relationship will always be a mystery. Attempting to be comprehensive, the author packs a lot of detail into awkward, drawn-out sentences. For example, "He began an early version of The Magician's Nephew at the beginning of 1949, right after completing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but abandoned it and wrote Prince Caspian (originally titled Drawn Into Narnia) instead." Readers get mired down in the overabundance of places, nicknames, and explanations. The result is a text that is unfocused and uninspired. The poor selection of illustrations range from a NASA photo of the surface of Mars to the bombing of Nagasaki. Only 7 of the nearly 30 photographs depict Lewis or his family. Additionally, the captions, set in small white font on top of the images, are nearly indecipherable, and the index is incomplete. Michael Coren's C. S. Lewis : The Man Who Created Narnia (Ignatius, 2006) is a well-researched and readily accessible work that delivers an interesting and intriguing portrait of the writer.—June Shimonishi, Torrance Public Library, CA