#96 The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (1954)
20 points
Admittedly this one was a real shocker to the system. Not only did it not show up on the previous poll but I rarely hear it come up in common conversation. When we talk about Lewis we usually talk about the first three of his titles or maybe The Magician’s Nephew. We might even debate the relative merits (or lack thereof) of The Last Battle, but The Horse and His Boy? Yet here we are. Enough people not only thought it a worthy inclusion, their love for it reigned supreme enough to get it on the Top 100 list!
The plot, as told by Kirkus, reads: “The setting is familiar. There is the eastern flavour to his make-believe kingdoms and great Aslan the Lion is still Narnia’s protector. But for a new hero there is Shasta, a slave boy in the tyrannical land of Calormen, and of unknown parentage, who escapes to the free north with Bree, one of Narnia’s talking horses. En route, they meet Aravis, a Calormene princess also in flight because of an impending forced marriage, and together they help snuff out a Calormene plot to attack not only Narnia but its brother land of Archenland, of which Shasta turns out to be a lost prince.”
Of all the Narnia books this is the one that is believe to be anti-Arab. As this is the fifth Narnia book (depending on how you count them) there was some talk of whether or not there would ever be a movie. Yet as the Houston Chronicle pointed out in 2005: “the BBC produced versions of four ‘Narnia’ books in the late ’80s (now available on DVD, in highly respectable renderings, but with cheesy ’80s-era special effects). ‘The Horse and His Boy’ wasn’t among those four.” While Shasta is light-skinned, the Calormenes are “men with long, dirty robes, and wooden shoes turned up at the toe, and turbans on their heads, and beards . . .” They lives in a city where “What you would chiefly have noticed if you had been there were the smells, which came from unwashed people, unwashed dogs, scent, garlic, onions, and the piles of refuse which lay everywhere.”
Lots of problems with this, and so one wonders how much would be changed if a film was ever made. Those who read it in their youth don’t remember these details, of course. Still and all, it’s good to keep them in mind when we consider this list as a whole.
Kirkus said of it, “A beautifully written tale to read aloud as well, in which C.S. Lewis’ talents seem to flower more than ever.”
Hello, everyone, this is the great and powerful but tired CARLMAN. Everyone had a good time at WordPlay Saturday, as you can see. 
Even though you see Master Jedi Zack in the far-left photo in the second row of pictures, nobly helping a youngling have fun, some of the guys fell (briefly) under the influnce of the dark side and hung around with Darth Bill. Cyber Kid 303 even helped the sith lord attempt to chase Jedi Master Zack from his tent. We have the whole thing on Sith Cam and will post it as soon as Darth Bill gets past the Borg invasion in that quadrant (Hey, am I mixing up my sci-fi epics here????) As for you noble Jedi, do not fear--I'm sure the dark side effects will wear off soon. Master Zack got some pictures on Jedi Digital Cam and will present his side one day.
It's always good to come back from a busy weekend and find reviews and comments from our firends. It was really good to hear from three of you!! Our first was from Lord Vader:
I just finished my next book in the Narnia series. It was called "The Horse and his Boy" by C. S. Lewis. It was alright, but I wish the battle scene would have been a bit longer. It was a little easy to tell what was going to happen in this one. I can't wait to go onto the Price Caspian book.
Mikie (a.k.a Lord Vader)
We just finished reading that one at home and loved it. Too bad you thought it was only alright. But you'll enjoy Prince Caspian a lot. And wait until you get to The Dawn Treader!!! That's my favorite.
Then I heard from cyber kid:
Viking It and Liking It is one of the amazing books in the Time Warp Trio series with Joe, Sam, and Fred by Jon Scieszka where they get whisked back to ancient viking times. There they meet Leif Eriksson who discovered North America. I like it because it is full of adventure, humor, and history. It is Jon Scieszka's best.
Yes, the Time Warp Trio books are good. Have you read The Not-So-Jolly Roger. It features Blackbeard, who sailed up and down the coasts of North Carolina! Finally, we had another one from the BRUNER BOYS BEWARE:
We had a good time at WordPlay Saturday with Darth Bill. We saw snatches of CAPTAIN VERB (actually pretty funny) and heard storytellers. We checked out a graphic novel on INDIANA JONES and Keagen had finished it before we even left downtown... but he read it twice more. We are half way through City Of Ember and it's getting really good. The scary part was when Lina lost her baby sister in the dark when the lights went out... YIKES! And Dune snuck into the engine room and saw the generator and was upset because it was worse than he thought and has no idea how to fix it. We will let you know more when we finish it this week.
Wow, evryone's tallking about The City of Ember! I might have to drop everyting else I'm reading and pick it up. Has anyone seen the movie? Is it any good? Will you BRUNER BOYS see it after you finish reading the book?
Well, I've still got lots to do before I take my Odinrest. I really want to talk to you all about The Maze of Bones and Charles R. Smith, Jr. but the work of a CARLMAN is never done!
Wait, what's this??????? Darth Bill at MY computer!!!!!! Only a sith would dare approach the desk of the Great and Powerful CARLMAN. Yeah, he said something about this post already being up on the screen and just wanted to take down the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows poll, but who knows what evil he was plotting on MY computer?
BEGONE!!
That's better. I have much to do. See you guys later.
Bill is just the best. I worship the ground he walks on!!!!!
Hey, who said that???!!!!!!
Not a book I wanted to reread – ever. Oh well.
I loved this book chiefly for Aravis. The brave princess, dressing in her brother’s armor and leaving everything she’s ever known and loved for unknown dangers in order to escape a forced marriage to a cruel man … she was awesome. Far more awesome than Shasta, in my mind. Because of her, I never read this book as anti-Arab – but then, I also completely missed the Christian connection in the Chronicles until it was pointed out to me, so it’s entirely possible I was just dumb about it.
I loved this one much more on rereading. As a young adult, I loved all the Christian truths that C. S. Lewis worked in. About how Aslan guided Shasta’s journey, even when it seemed like awful things were happening. About how your reward for doing a task well is to be given a harder one. About how no one’s told any story but his own. (You see, there are many quotable moments in this book.)
I knew very little about Arab culture when I read it as a kid, so the Calormenes were just Calormenes to me, from a fantasy culture.
This is my favorite Narnia book. Because of Aravis mostly. I love her to pieces. This is actually one I voted for but I had little hope it would actually make the list and am excited it did.
I was really surprised the first time I heard anybody describe it as anti-Arab because, like Sondy, as a child I read it as Calormenes were Calormenes. As an adult I see more similarities to Ancient Babylon than I do the Arab world, but I can see where other people are coming from with that complaint.
Funny, the only one you didn’t mention is my son’s favorite, The Silver Chair.
When he turned 7, he wanted to have a Silver Chair birthday party, but I convinced him to make it a Narnia party so the other guests would have some idea what we were doing.
Oh, and don’t forget that Aravis herself is a Calormene, so they definitely aren’t portrayed as all bad.
This is one of the more underrated titles in the series– definitely one of my favorites! I think it’s cool that it made the list. (I’ll second the bit about Calormenes being Calormenes).
You’re right, Brandy, the Tisroc-may-he-live-forever has echoes of Daniel in Babylon, constantly saying “O king, live forever.” More Christian overtones — but this one, just a reference to a Bible story about a pagan king. It emphasizes the “otherness” of Calormen, like the Israelites in the Babylonian captivity, among people who didn’t worship the true God.
Aravis was a terrific heroine, but I did still have major trouble with the Calormenes – almost all of them were portrayed negatively (the only positive ones I can remember are Aravis and that young man in The Last Battle). I would’ve had an easier time seeing them as just an invented people if they hadn’t been described with the same terms British writers of that era used to describe the Middle East all the time (turbans, long robes, curved swords, garlic and onions – which authors of that era were frequently negative about). It seemed pretty clearly to be a very negative portrait of an Arab country.
If we had seen more Calormenes who were unhappy with the rule there, then it would just be a picture of a government that was controlling its people, and good people who disagreed with that but had no power to change it. But instead, it’s written as though Aravis is the only good Calormene, and her reward is to live in Narnia. And Shasta is a good Calormene only because he’s really a Narnian.
So much in this book that I liked – mainly the things Sondy mentioned about no one is told someone else’s story, and Aravis getting scratched by the lion in amounts equal to the amount her serving girl was whipped for letting Aravis escape, the interactions between Bree and Hwin, etc. But so much that gave me serious qualms as well.
Yea for one of my top 10!! We’re a rare breed, we are, who love this book. But it’s a great way to find other kindred spirits
. Yes to Brandy–I never read this with “Arab” in mind–just “Calormene”….