eBooks for Bedtime Reading: The Chronicles of Narnia

My kids are currently obsessed with C S Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia books. I've been reading them at bedtime for a few weeks now and we're currently up to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

What has this got to do with technology you might wonder? The closest Narnia gets to technology is the torch that Edmund brings with him in Prince Caspian! (Unless you could the magic that is.)


Well I'm reading the ebook versions on the Kindle Fire. This works brilliantly as we can have the lights off so the kids can start to wind down. They do have a quick look at the gorgeous illustrations though, it's really nice to be able to make the pictures full size so the kids can get a close look at them. The illustrations are the original ones by Pauline Baynes. She added color to the artwork several decades after the black and white versions were first published.

We do have a Kindle eReader, but for kids books color is important so I use the tablet most of the time. Reading outside in direct sunlight is the only time when I tend to reach for the eInk reader. 

We've done some extra reading of the books during the day and I've connected up our HDMI projector to the Kindle Fire to show the text and the pictures on the wall so the kids can follow along and get a good look at the pictures.

I almost bought the paper versions of The Chronicles of Narnia. I'm glad I didn't. The ebooks are much more practical and portable. I've even read some on a train when we were traveling. I also love that they don't take up any space on the bookshelf.

The Chronicles of Narnia series has really stood the test of time. The books are full of very dated language, I don't even recognize some of the vernacular used, but it doesn't detract from the story. We're enjoying them even more with a bit of technology.

Buy: Chronicles of Narnia eBooks