Many thanks, David.

Dr. Ward,

Just a few minutes ago I finished reading Planet Narnia on this hot, dry Independence Day in Idaho. My children are selling lemonade on the street in front of my house.

I have read and listened to the Chronicles of Narnia several times. I also recently worked through The Discarded Image; my personal goal is to read everything that Lewis ever wrote. Like so many other readers of your book, when I first was told the thesis by a friend, I was skeptical. When I perused your book and saw that Mars was not associated with The Last Battle I thought I had you refuted. But keeping an open mind, I dived into Planet Narnia. Skepticism became questioning, questioning became discovery, and discovery became delighted agreement. I am a convert!

Your arguments are persuasive, your thoughts engaging, and your writing style witty. “A pot of message” was probably my favorite of your witticisms.

Thank you for this enjoyable, insightful, scholarly work. Blessings on your future projects.

I appreciate the authoritative style of writing and the incredible level of scholarship brought to use in Planet Narnia; anything less could have been dismissed as fanciful or trivial. Mr. Ward’s knowledge of the subject is vast, and inspirational. It is the perfect companion volume to this perfect children’s literature.

Planet Narnia shows the enormous challenge undertaken by C.S. Lewis. To be able to capture the attention of 10-year-olds, and to hold those children spellbound for the rest of their lives, is one of the highest achievements for an author.

Mr. Ward, you have helped to pass along that challenge. Ironically, it is like the first time a telescope pointed skywards, and Copernicus brought the hard-to-understand heavenly spheres into a new, clarified order. You have brought light and order to an already beautiful mystery, and helped to inspire this challenge in me, again.

‘Lewis scholar Michael Ward, in his book, Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (published in January 2008 by Oxford University Press), claims to have found the skeleton key for the interpretation of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia . . .

‘Both at the beginning and end of Planet Narnia, Ward takes pains to show how other interpretations of the Narniad are in error, or at least in need of correction or modification. I myself had not (to my knowledge) considered the “mystery” of the Chronicles, nor the difficulty in their interpretation, before. But Ward’s interpretation has such explanatory power, and shows how widely in Lewis’s work, both professional and personal, he made reference to the seven planets of the mediaeval cosmology, and clarifies the meaning of (among other things) Aslan’s appearance in each book, to the point where the least one can do is to admit that it is, to this point, the most convincing on offer . . .

‘I would recommend Planet Narnia as a good book to read. If possible, before reading the chapter of Ward’s book which deals with the planetary “donegality” of each Narnian book, read the book in question so that it will be fresh in your mind when you turn to Ward’s interpretation. I hope you will find Planet Narnia, as I did, an enriching exploration of Lewis’s most famous books.’

A friend of mine recently reminded me that the beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien’s poem ‘Mythopoeia’ refers to the ‘cold, inane, cruel view of the cosmos given to us by modern scientific astronomy.’ Tolkien and Lewis must have discussed this more than once.

You can read my friend’s review of The Narnia Code at http://live.hollywoodjesus.com/?p=3811

I have just watched the programme about Planet Narnia and thought it was fantastic. I read all the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis about two years ago and so making the links with your evidence was easier for me to do. I want to now read the poem you mention.

You really explained the evidence in a way that children like me could understand and I am only 13! It was nice to be able to enjoy something at my age and not have to wait until much older.

Next March (2010) I am going with nine friends to Ghana to build a class room for children in a deprived School in Accra. I have to raise all on my own £2000 to go and this will also allow me to take books and resources for the children. I have decided to take a copy of all the Narnia books. I will now also take Planet Narnia as well!

Thank you very much, it has been fascinating for me. I hope you don’t mind a 13-year old making a comment?

From
Tobias Bonnell
Warminster School, Wiltshire

I am just reading the chapter about Jack’s non-disclosure of his secret idea. I don’t know if you say this later, but it occurs to me that one other reason why he wouldn’t have let on about it is that cynics and critics like Tolkien would have sneered and tried to make fun of it as some kind of debased astrology.

Far better to leave the secret to be discovered. This is what would happen in the best stories, the treasure exists, the clues have been left for those who have eyes to see, and following the treasure map leads you to where it is buried, even if it is centuries old.

So it is perhaps Jack’s supreme confidence in his own creation that meant he did not need to spell it out. He knew that someone would one day understand the secret, whether it be five years, fifty or five hundred. When the pupil is ready the teaching will be understood.

Thank you so much, Michael!