Creativity at its BEST! ♥

We’ve been living in Narnia for a while now. At times, it’s hard to remember exactly what family life looked like (or rather sounded like!) before Narnia – although one member of the family is not nearly as excited as the other three. (I’m confident he’ll change his mind as he and his literary tastes grow. At the moment, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and Katy and the Big Snow are more to his liking.)

The current enthusiasm for Narnia warms my parent (and teacher) heart because The Chronicles of Narnia were favorites for both JM and me growing up; it’s been fun to see Elizabeth learn to love them just as much.

Narnia has already inspired several works of art this year...

Elizabeth got “the big picture” (the main point of the allegory) and joined all Narnia fans in wishing for more than seven books. Of course, we plan to re-read them, probably waiting until DJ can join in our appreciation. Because history tends to repeat itself, I’m confident Narnia will remain solidly entrenched in the fiber of our family life...

Meanwhile, we’ve been adding a bit of “Middle Earth” via the child-friendly animated version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic, The Hobbit. We chose to begin our journey with the 1977 video version mainly so DJ can join us from the very beginning of this adventure.

Hardly a day passes that we don’t hear children’s voices singing at least a line from: “That’s what Bilbo Baggins hates!” or “What should we do with the funny little things?!” or “Far o’er the Misty Mountains cold…”

Re-reading childhood favorites – and especially learning to appreciate their real value as an adult (and parent and teacher) – is very rewarding. I’m loving it! The professor’s quotes about “logic” are still – and even more – my favorites now that I’m a mom and writing teacher!

Living in Narnia (and studying the topography and geography of Uruguay on a third-grade level) also inspired the inventing of Yaugurú. (Do you see the connection?) J

Yaugurú: the official map

I especially love this aspect of Elizabeth’s imagination because I remember inventing, in conjunction with my little brother, “Tiny Land” and “Dwarf Land” when I was slightly older than she is now. I guess I could claim that her creativity puts her in good company… J And, a few years ago, I discovered that C.S. Lewis himself invented “Animal-Land” (along with his brother) when he was a boy of about our ages...