How Harry Cast His Spell (Tyndale House Publishers)

It has been over eight years since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book was released and only four years since Part 2 of the movie with the same name was released. Pottermania had been dwindling to some degree, despite Rowling's efforts to keep fans engaged through her frequently updated website Pottermore. A recent release of a fully illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the upcoming play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has whipped Potter-heads back into a frenzy, and it is for that reason that I am reviewing an older book called How Harry Cast His Spell.

How Harry Cast His Spell is the third edition of a book which was previously titled "Looking for God in Harry Potter." Personally, I preferred the original title, but to each their own. The author is John (no relation to Hermione) Granger. Granger is a professor with a degree in classical languages and literature. He is now considered a "Harry Potter expert." In his novel, Granger discusses a variety of topics including magic; good and evil; love and death. However, there are several deep literary concepts he covers which are extremely fascinating - 1. literary alchemy, 2. symbolism and name meaning, and 3. doppelgangers.

Alchemy is a truly fascinating subject that for the most part involved people trying to transform lead into gold. In the literary form of alchemy, it is the character (Harry Potter) who transforms from lead into gold, both in every book and as a character as a whole. Granger makes other alchemical connections with Hermione being mercury and Ron being sulfur, the two agents need to transform lead. I could go on and on about this, but buy the book! The Christian symbolism is abundant in the Harry Potter series, but it is subtle like in Lord of the Rings and not completely beat you over the head like the Chronicles of Narnia. Harry is a Christ-figure but he is not supposed to be Jesus Christ, because despite all of his good qualities, he is with sins and flaws. The doppelganger theory is one that is best illustrated in the case of Jekyll and Hyde, but is seen throughout the Harry Potter series, primarily in Harry and Voldemort, but also in certain wizards and their animagi or patronus forms. Peter Pettigrew as a rat is particularly on the nose.

In addition to these themes Granger talks about, there are also individual chapters devoted to the spiritual keys of each of the first six Harry Potter books and three chapters dedicated to Deathly Hallows. The reason for three with the last book is because there is much more to talk about, including Harry's struggle with faith and Harry's own Passion narrative and how it symbolizes Christ's Passion. At the end of the book is an FAQ, which includes brief rebuttals to some Christians who paint Harry Potter as occult. Reading through this 300 page book, I found myself going back through the stories in my head and seeing all the symbols and theme I missed when originally reading it. My wife, HUGE Harry Potter fan that she is, even pointed out some stuff that the author missed or could have included. That's not a knock against this book, in 300 pages, the author did a fine job covering as much as he could without bogging the reader down, Though, I could have kept reading if the book had been twice as long as it was truly fascinating. If you are a Harry Potter fan, who wants to understand the Christian meaning of Harry Potter, read this book. If you know someone who is anti-Harry because they think it's demonic, buy them this book. Granger does a masterful job of not only showing you why you and your children should read Harry Potter, but why you and your children need to read it!

This book was provided to me for free by Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

C.S. Lewis At War (Tyndale House Publishers)

Wrapping up C.S. Lewis week at my blog, I am reviewing an audiobook entitled C.S. Lewis At War. This is another title in the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. You may recall that I previously reviewed "The Chronicles of Narnia" in this post here. The package contains eight discs, with six discs being a dramatic reading of Lewis' work "Mere Christianity," and the other two being a dramatic story about C.S. Lewis and the inspiration for "Mere Christianity." "Mere Christianity is dramatically read by Philip Bird, but C.S. Lewis At War contains a cast of about 20-25 characters. Lewis is played by Jeremy Northam (from the films The Net and Emma), but the biggest name they landed was John Rhys-Davies (Gimli in The Lord of the Rings). Other people play minor roles such as evacuees, BBC employees, and even some of the Inklings, like J.R.R Tolkien. Douglas Gresham, Lewis' stepson, even lends his voice as the host to set the stage for the book.

The dramatic reading of "Mere Christianity" is masterfully done. I have listened to another recording of this book, and it didn't hold my attention like this version. In Focus on the Family's version, Philip Bird adds a bit of wit and wisdom in his tone that it feels like Lewis himself is reading the work. However, where this product really shines is in the radio drama. In this story we are transported back to the year 1939. Germany has just invaded Poland and World War II is officially underway. We hear a minister on a radio make the announcement to all of his listeners. Elsewhere, C.S. Lewis is giving a lecture to what sounds like a small to modest sized crowd, and his lecture is interrupted by that news as well. This war shapes not only the book, but the rest of Lewis' life and work.

England and the entire world was experiencing what I can best describe is a loss of faith. War and rumors of war made people afraid and I believe question the existence of God. In England, children are shipped off to keep them out of harm's way. Those who have read The Chronicles of Narnia might remember this. C.S. Lewis At War captures not only the turmoil that Lewis was facing, but England as well. However, like a piece of coal when pressure is applied, a diamond was formed both in the man and his works. It was because of this awful period that Lewis was able to write one of the best defenses of Christianity that stood the test of time 70+ years later. Also, in this work one gets little hints of Lewis' inspiration for works like Narnia and Inklings fans are treated to some interaction between the two giants of Lewis and Tolkien.

Overall, I found this whole CD set to be quite enjoyable and very well done in terms of the sound and narration quality. I could have listened to it for hours upon hours, so when it ended I was disappointed there was not more. My only complaint is with the packaging of these CDs. The part that holds the CDs slid out of its sleeve on more than one occasion and thus some of the plastic that holds the CDs in place broke off. I was able to fix it with a little tape, but perhaps I should have been more careful with how I held it. If you or someone you know would like a first rate reading of "Mere Christianity" and a glimpse into a different part of his life than the one you might have seen in the movie Through the Shadowlands, then you will want this CD set in your collection. Five stars!

This CD set was provided to me for free by Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia is one of the first series I remember reading as a child. I know I read other secular series, like Boxcar Children, Goosebumps, etc. However, none of them stuck with me the way this series has. Perhaps, it was because I played Edmund in a school production of it. Yes, I'm always typecast as the jerk. :) Perhaps, it was because the allegory of Aslan being Jesus hit me over the head and was something I at my young age could grasp. I'm not really sure the reason. I just know I still love this series. I love it so much that my paperbacks have cracked spines. If you know me, cracked spines are not something I love (unlike my lovely wife). Therefore, I have been investigating different editions (both text and audio) of this wonderful series.

The first one I tried was the audio version edition produced by Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre. When I received this product, I didn't realize that it was the dramatized version. That means that the text is more or less the same. There is a narrator, but more often than not, the character will exclaim something rather than have the narrator tell what the character is feeling or doing. For example, when Lucy was walking through the wardrobe and was crunching on snow, instead of having the narrator describe to us what she was thinking, Lucy directly tells us what she is thinking. If you want just the books, you will probably hate that it is dramatized, if it is not a deal breaker then it is the best dramatization I have heard, even better than the BBC one. What makes the dramatization so good? I attribute it to the cast of characters. When you have that many voices in a story, it helps to have a whole cast of people instead of one person trying to do every voice. There are also music and background noises that add to the story. I  must admit that these can be a bit overpowering at times. If you listen to the first five to ten minutes of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe it drowns out the four children's conversation a bit.

What really impressed me about this CD set is the packaging. For starters, it is in a nice study tin with Aslan front and center on it. Next, there are seven separate sleeves for each of the books. Each sleeve gives the date of publication and the order in the series, which the book is to be read following the chronological approach. With each book being on separate sleeves, you can choose to listen to the books in the original publication order, and expose your children to Narnia the way you were originally exposed to it. Also on the sleeves are a shield representing some facet of the particular book, like a lamppost for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The CDs themselves also look like works of art, and each one is unique looking. Lastly, there is a folded up map of Narnia included in this package. So if you are looking for an audiobook version of The Chronicles of Narnia and don't mind that it is dramatized, this is a beautiful edition to own. If you are looking for an unabridged audiobook version, then you'll have to buy Harper Collins' edition.

After looking at audio editions. I turned my attention to the text versions. There are several different versions available depending on if you want individual volumes or a treasury of them all in one book. Part of me was tempted to go for the treasury, because it was a hardcover, and I am a sucker for hardcovers! However, I didn't like the fact that since it was one volume, it was prearranged into the chronological order and not the published order. It's a minor pet peeve, but it almost forces you to read them in a specific order, and you shouldn't be shoved into an order, you don't prefer.

The edition that I ultimately settled on were the full-color collector's editions from Harper Collins. They come in paperback in the United States, but if you want them in hardcover, you can buy them from an Amazon seller or Amazon UK. These are the best editions, I have discovered. The illustrations are original Pauline Baynes illustrations. She also illustrated for Tolkien, so she is definitely my favorite illustrator. I remember being enchanted with her black and white illustrations when I first read this book, but adding color to these pages make them all the more vibrant. The pages are a thick, glossy paper that feel like they are built to last. The books themselves also have a nice weight to them, and the covers are just as beautiful as the illustrations on the inside. And even though these books are numbered chronologically on the spine, I can give them to my son in the order I choose to (which is publication order), and let him read them the original way the first time. After that, if he wants to read them in the chronological order he can. But he will at least have had the chance to experience the Narnia magic the correct way first. Well, these are my recommendations for Narnia books, both audio and text. What are your favorite editions and why?

These products were provided to me for free by Tyndale House Publishers (CDs) and Harper Collins UK (Books).