Prince Caspian

Name: Prince Caspian
Author: C. S. Lewis
ISBN: 9780007323111

by C. S. Lewis

Ages 8–11 Reading age 10 Novel Set in somewhere magical adventurousepic

The four children are pulled back to Narnia hundreds of years later, to a country where talking beasts are a rumour and a young prince is in hiding.

A story about children and magical creatures, adventurous and epic in tone. We would put it with children of 8–11, and at a reading age of about 10 for reading alone.

Worth knowing before you buy

Battles and fighting
A character dies

None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.

Part of a series

This one belongs to the The Chronicles of Narnia series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.

Our take on this book

The four Pevensie children are yanked back to Narnia by a blast of magic to find that hundreds of years have passed: talking beasts are hunted almost to legend, the old ways are all but forgotten, and a young prince called Caspian is hiding in the woods, hunted by his usurping uncle. C. S. Lewis turns his second Narnia book into a story about faith and memory — about believing in something the world has decided is a fairy tale — with Lucy the only one who can see Aslan at first. There are battles and a duel, and a character death, so it carries more weight than the first book, though the tone stays that of a rousing adventure with a moral thread. For an eight- to eleven-year-old already in love with Narnia it is a satisfying return, best read after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and it rewards a child who likes their adventure with something to think about underneath.