The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Recommended. Age: 9+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Lucy, Edmund and their grumpy cousin Eustace fall through a painting into the land of Narnia. They sail with King Caspian to the end of the world to find seven lost lords. Eustace is turned into a dragon because he is greedy, and the great lion Aslan sets him free. It has some scary parts and is good for kids eight and up. This may be the best of the Narnia books for teaching a child about sin and grace. Eustace cannot scrape off his own dragon skin. Only Aslan can do it. At the end Aslan appears as a lamb and tells the children to know him by another name in our world. Catholic lists carry the series in the middle grades.
For parents
Read aloud from about seven or eight. Independent reading from nine or ten. A sixth grader will read it with ease and can go deeper. Common Sense Media and Plugged In both say 8 and up. Scary parts to know about: slave traders capture the children, a sea serpent attacks, and one island makes bad dreams come true. Ask: why does Eustace become a dragon? Why can't he take the dragon skin off by himself? Who does? Tell your child that this is a picture of how Christ frees us from sin, which we cannot do for ourselves. Connect it to Baptism and Confession. Ask what Aslan means when he says he has another name in our world. Then say the name: Jesus. Lewis was an Anglican, not a Catholic, so the story has no Church and no sacraments by name. On the magic: it belongs to a made-up world, and no child is taught to practice it.