C. S. Lewis

Hello there! My name is Clive Staples Lewis, but everyone called me Jack. I was born a long, long time ago, on November 29th, 1898, in a green city called Belfast, in Ireland. My older brother, Warnie, and I loved our house because it was filled with books from top to bottom! We would spend hours reading and making up our own stories. Our favorite game was creating a magical world called Boxen, full of talking animals and brave knights. I especially loved drawing pictures of all the animal characters. When I was a boy, my dear mother grew very sick and passed away, which was very sad for our family. Soon after, my father sent me away to school in England, which felt like a whole new world.

As I grew up, my love for books and learning grew with me. In 1917, I was so excited to go to a famous school called the University of Oxford. But a big war, called the First World War, was happening, and I had to leave my studies to become a soldier. It was a scary time, but I returned safely to Oxford in 1919 to finish my learning. At Oxford, I became a professor and taught students all about old poems and stories. I also made a wonderful friend named J. R. R. Tolkien. You might know him—he wrote The Hobbit! We were part of a group called the 'Inklings,' where we would meet to share the stories we were writing. We would read our adventures out loud and help each other make them even better.

One day, a picture popped into my head: a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. I couldn't stop thinking about it! That little picture grew and grew into a whole magical land. I decided to write it all down as a story for children. In 1950, my first book about this world was ready. It was called 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.' It’s a story about four children who find a secret world called Narnia by stepping through an old wardrobe. In Narnia, they meet talking animals, mythical creatures, and a great, wise lion named Aslan. People loved the story so much that I wrote six more books about the adventures in Narnia!

I spent the rest of my life writing, teaching, and imagining. I wrote many kinds of books, not just for children, but my stories about Narnia have traveled all over the world. I lived to be 64 years old, and though my time on Earth ended, my stories did not. Today, children and grown-ups still open the wardrobe door and step into Narnia. I hope my adventures remind you that even in the darkest of times, courage, hope, and a little bit of magic can be found anywhere.