Some people might think that the only thing I like to read is Marvel Comics, but that’s not true. I may not read as much as Tillie, but I do have many favorite books, and I’m here today to tell you about one of them: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, from the Narnia Chronicles, by C.S. Lewis.
When I first came to Whimsieville, I noticed that Miss Chrissy has a map of Narnia hanging in her Study, and of course I recognized it immediately, because while in The Hoard, I happened to run across the Narnia Chronicles at the bottom of a heap of old newspapers, which was absolutely disgraceful, if you ask me, to let these fine books rot under so many newspapers. Well, they didn’t actually rot, because I fell in love witht the pictures on the covers and rescued these books and took them back to Tessie and Tillie so we could all read them. And we did read them, and we all love them, but my very favorite of the bunch is the third one in the series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
When I saw Miss Chrissy’s map of Narnia and asked about it, we had a delightful conversation all about Narnia, and she showed me where I could find her old Narna books on The Bookcase. I told myself that someday I was going to go back and re-read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Well, with everything else that’s been going on— new clothes, Halloween costumes, dinosaurs, and so many movies to watch and comic books to read—I had to put that promise on hold. But this weekend has been cold and dreary and rainy, so what could be better than to curl up with a good book? So that’s what I did!
I love Narnia! And I especially love Dawn Treader because they all go on an adventure on the high seas! If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that I sometimes like to dress up like a pirate—not that I’d ever really want to BE a pirate, but I wouldn’t mind maybe taking a ride on a boat some time. If you know what happened to me in my past, how some bad person almost drowned me one time, you would think I would be very afraid of water, as afraid of water as Tessie is of dogs and wolves, who kidnapped her and bit off her earlobe. 
But surprisingly…I’m not! Not that I love water, but I must say I do love the idea of traveling on the sea. I think I have a bit of an adventurer in me, so that’s probably stronger within me than any negative feelings I might have about water.
But, geez! I’m just talking and talking about myself, and not really talking about the book, am I? Okay, so here are a few things I can say about the book, and why I think everyone should read it.
One: Narnia is a magical place. Not like Tahiti in SHIELD, where Agent Coulson may or may not have been healed and brought back to life. Narnia is a truly a magical place, a fairy tale place, where the animals talk and everyone is either really really good, or really really bad. And because it’s magical, all sorts of things go on there that could never go on in the real world. The children from Earth Lucy, Edmund and Eustace, get into Narnia by jumping into a picture on the wall! Then they travel to the edge of Narnia in the Dawn Treader, with Prince Caspian and Captain Drinian. The further away they get from the heart of Narnia, the more peculiar it gets. Our band of travelers meet mer-people, and “duffers” (who only have one leg) and a man who is actually a star (not like a Hollywood star, but a real star). They also have an adventure with a dragon.
The bit with the dragon was a bit scary, but to me the scariest part was when they go to the Dark Island, and have to travel through complete darkness, and everyone starts freaking out. That part about the darkness freaked me out a little too.
Two: another good reason to read this book is because of Aslan, the King of Narnia. He’s a lion, a very very good lion, but a little scary—but only in a good way, because he’s so powerful. He has a great big mane which is so soft, and sometimes he lets the kids take rides on him, and they hold on to his mane so they don’t fall off as he leaps all around Narina. His roar is very loud. And he doesn’t put up with any nonsense, but he’s always ready to forgive when someone does something stupid and realizes it’s stupid and is sorry about it.
Three: In this book there’s a little talking mouse, Reepicheep, who is so brave and gallant, he makes you laugh. Reepicheep is absolutely my favorite character. Even though he is just a mouse, and so tiny, his heart is big, and he ends up having a very special place in the history of Narnia.
A movie has been made about this book, though Miss Chrissy says sadly she has never seen it. But she has put it on The Netflix List, so soon it will come to Whimsieville, we all can watch it together. In the meantime, it was so much fun to read this book again.
I will never get tired of this book, and I will never get tired of Narnia. Sometimes I wish I could live in Narnia, because it’s such a magical place. But then I realize that I now live in Whimsieville, which is also a magical place, in its own way. We don’t have mermaids or stars here, or dragons (thank goodness!), and the animals do not actually talk, but somehow all of us—Whimsies, dinosaurs, cats and humans—manage to understand each other perfectly fine. Whimsieville is safe and warm, and full of friends—and you don’t have to be a pirate, or a sailor, or even a child, to enjoy it.
