While I have had the great pleasure and privilege of having many classics read to me when I was growing up, none was as enchanting, awe-inspiring, and truly soul-stirring to me as C.S. Lewis’s Narnia chronicles, in particular The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Set during the Second World War, when children were evacuated out of London to live in the care of strangers, the four Pevensie siblings – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy – move to The Professor’s mansion, where they find a hidden wardrobe. Stepping inside, they discover a magical world frozen in eternal winter and under the rule of the wicked White Witch. The arrival of the four Pevensies, the only humans in Narnia, brings forth the prophecy announcing the end to the witch’s reign and the return of the great and noble lion, Aslan – but a great sacrifice must be made.

The Narnia series to this day strikes a deep, resonant chord inside me that whisks me away to an enchanting land full of magic, prophecy, old religions and new, where it is possible to fulfill one’s destiny even when unprepared. Reading the book and watching the 2005 movie made me feel as though Narnia was a place I had been to before but simply forgotten. Now I can never hear the roar of a lion without feeling the power of Aslan, which has touched so many generations. For ages 8+.