CS Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew is layered, whimsical, and profound. Students love the talking animals, the strange world-hopping magic rings, and of course, Aslan. But what often gets lost in the fun is the depth. The moral questions. The subtle Biblical parallels. The character development.
Research from Harvard Business Publishing shows that facts woven into a story are up to 20 times more memorable than when presented alone.
CS Lewis’s lessons on courage and virtue are experienced through story, not lecture. When students reflect on those stories using guided questions and writing prompts, they’re engaging emotion, logic and imagination all at once.
So, how do we ensure it’s impactful?
An intentional reading guide with the specific purpose of making reading educational and formative for the human person is the answer. It’ll help you save time and assist you in talking about the important messages of the book as they spring naturally in your class discussions.
And of course, help save you a lot of time!
CS Lewis "The Magician's Nephew" Novel Study
As you may know, this novel is the prequel to the entire Narnia series. It was written in 1955, 5 years after the most successful of his novels The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!
However, this guide is designed specifically for Grades 6–8 and can be used whether you have or have not read the other books from the Narnia series. It’s thoughtful, structured, and flexible enough to fit any classroom or homeschool setup.
Whether you’re reading the whole novel or just doing a deep-dive on certain chapters, this resource saves time and makes your job way easier.
Here is a visual OVERVIEW of what is included in the full novel study bundle:
What's Included
- ✅ Engaging comprehension questions for every chapter
- ✅ Detailed character analysis activities
- ✅ Creative writing prompts
- ✅ Vocabulary support
- ✅ Graphic organizers to help with themes, setting, and character development
- ✅ CS Lewis Quotes Reflective Writing Prompts Activity
All the materials are ready to print and go, with both PDF print and digital formats for easy distribution.
Ready for a closer look?
Keep reading!
PART 1 - CS Lewis The Magician's Nephew Questions and Answers
Let’s look at the novel study are the questions and answers guide.
With this support, students are assisted in their reading and gain a deeper understanding of the plot and the underlying messages. They don’t often realize this, but you will!
In my own classroom I allot a period of time to reading the novel with my students and a separate period for correcting and going through their answers.
This gives students a chance to truly engage with the text – reading aloud to students or getting them to read taking turns, is so beneficial at this age. I usually do a mixture of both.
Click here for a FREE sample of the reading guide!
Download the freebie here!
Aslan and Digory
One of my favourite parts of the book is when Aslan shows his sadness for Digory’s suffering. It is a beautiful rendering of the Christian idea thatGod suffers with us – unlike the distant and unmoving gods of Ancient Greece from The Iliad or The Odyssey!
A simple question like the one below can help students notice this detail.
Is Aslan crying for himself?
Or is he crying for Digory?
I’m sure CS Lewis wants to point out one of life’s great paradoxes here.
Of course, only an adult can read the between the lines without prompting, but I think the message is clear: even if God puts us through difficult things, He is on our side. And more than that, he cares so much about our struggles that He suffers as if the suffering were His own.
Correcting the questions and answers worksheets can be a great opportunity – normally correction time is when kids “switch off”, but it can be a chance to have meaningful discussion as well!
Part 2 - CS Lewis The Magician's Nephew Character Analysis and Paragraph Writing Activity
Teaching C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew is a wonderful way to develop your students’ writing and reading skills and these worksheets provide an easy and no-prep solution to make it a meaningful reading experience.
These worksheets tackle The Magician’s Nephew characters and paragraph writing, combining character analysis with a three-step graphic organizer designed for brainstorming and scaffolding cohesive paragraphs on Digory, Polly, Jadis and Uncle Andrew.
This resource offers a structured and engaging way for students to explore characters in depth and can spark interesting class discussions. It’s certainly a great tool tool for getting students to learn the basics of text analysis, paragraph writing, structuring and text annotation, all using one resource.
Step 1- Character Analysis Graphic Organizer: 4 detailed worksheets that guides students through analyzing key aspects of 4 of the novel’s characters: Digory, Polly, Uncle Andrew and Queen Jadis.
The worksheets aim to cultivate autonomous readers by activating empathy and a deeper understanding of the characters.
Step 2- Paragraph Building Graphic Organizer: Students transform their character analysis into well-structured paragraphs, using topic sentences, details and a concluding sentence.
Step 3- Final Draft Graphic Organizer: Students put all of their work together and present a full final draft paragraph ready for submission or correcting, also giving them a visual of the final result of their paragraph.
All of these activities come with an answer key with sample answers.
You can keep these for easy correction and also distribute them as model answers to your students at the end of the activity!
Part 3 - CS Lewis The Magician's Nephew Reflective Writing Prompts
This activity encourages students to think like literary critics and draw meaningful connections between CS Lewis as an author and his book The Magician’s Nephew.
This may seem like a very daunting task for middle schoolers, but it’s definitely possible with this tool!
These quotes work great as quick writes, bell-ringers or exit tickets before or after reading the book. They can be used at any time.
Just like with author studies, helping students make connections between the writer and their work can help forge a more authentic bond with the book!
How does it work?
Students are asked to make a connection between the quotation and The Magician’s Nephew.
Take a look at the below example:
In this case, students should make the correlation between this quote and Uncle Andrew’s impatience during the creation of Narnia, as highlighted in the reading guide.
This can open up interesting discussions on the theme of curiosity, wonder and pride!
Uncle Andrew is proud, but he is also scared, frightened and sees everything – even the creation of the new world of Narnia – as a threat and danger!
How to Use This Bundle
There’s no one “right” way to use this guide, but I have shown you how I use them in my classroom.
Of course, you could even consider these alternatives:
- 📚 Use the comprehension questions as bell-ringers or exit tickets
- 💬 Turn the character analysis into group discussions or presentations
- ✍️ Use the writing prompts for journaling, essays, or creative projects
- 🧠 Extend learning by comparing scenes to biblical passages or other mythologies
- 🔁 Mix and match activities based on your time frame and student needs
This isn’t a “print-and-go” pack of busywork.
The pack offers tools that grow with the students as they move through the novel.
It encourages slow reading, reflection, and the kind of discussions that stick with them.
Conclusion
If you’ve been wanting to teach CS Lewis The Magician’s Nephew in a way that feels meaningful but manageable, this guide is your go-to!
Still not sure about it?
Download the free guide for chapters 1-2 here!
Interested in the whole bundle?
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