Narnia Bloggin': 2 Narnia books I've added to my collection, and 1 I didn't

previously in this series: The Curious Case of the Odd Omnibus

Following my (oft ignored) rule of posting a new Narnia Bloggin' post after every five posts. 

I went to my local Savers thrift store (dangerous) because I had been emailed a coupon for 30% off books & media (very dangerous), and I have no self control. I found a lot of great books, not least of which were two The Chronicles of Narnia (TCON) copies that I was staggered to find!

Remember me mentioning that Cliff Neilsen updated his digital art TCON covers? I had tentatively thought about collecting them when they eventually turn up in thrift stores etc. in the future, but I never thought I'd find one so soon! These literally just came out last year, and I found The Magician's Nephew (MN) with the new cover showing Polly coming up out of the pond! I like this cover a lot better than the old one, which looked too science fiction-y and scary. The new cover art is more whimsical and fantastical. My only quibble is that I like the position and look of the rings in the old cover better; they don't look as good flattened like that. Also some internet commenter said the 3 rings like that look like a Mickey head, and I can't unsee it. I wish Neilsen had just done 2 rings, 1 yellow and 1 green, interlocking; 3 makes no sense, as only 2 rings per child are used in the book. You can see the comparison of the old and new covers here.

 

Pretty decent summary, although my inner pedant doesn't like the inaccuracies (Polly was tricked into touching a magical ring which sent her elsewhere, and Digory was forced to go after her to bring her back. This summary is inferring that both kids went on "a daring quest to save a life".) Anyway.

When I went to put MN with the other Cliff Neilsen TCON copies I own, I found that I don't actually have the old MN cover, so it's good I bought this one! For some reason I thought I had them all. I think that if I come across the old MN cover, I may buy it just to have the entire original Cliff Neilsen digital art covers for TCON. It would have to be cheap but in a good condition, though. IDK. I def will buy the rest of the new cover art copies as I come across them in thrift stores and whatnot. 

 

In my more cover art for TCON blog post, I had shared pretty covers for TCON that I do not own. Halfway between the last 2 big images, I wrote:

I found some pretty medieval-inspired covers that I like a lot, via the C.S. Lewis editions website. To see the other TCON books' covers in that series, click on each book in the main TCON editions webpage. I would def buy these if I saw them at the thrift store etc. in good condition. I love medieval/renaissance-inspired art.  

I never really thought I would come across one of these at my thrift store, as I don't think they were published in the US (the UK, maybe?). But lo and behold, there was The Last Battle (LB) with its beautiful medieval illuminated manuscripts-inspired border and illustrated capitals spelling out NARNIA! This TCON series was published by Lions of HarperCollins in Glasgow, Scotland (I was right!); there seem to have been a couple of variants of these covers, as some of them were tie-ins with the BBC TCON miniseries from the eighties (just the books that the miniseries adapted: LWW, PC, & VotDT). In looking at the other TCON titles in this covers series, it looks like the illustrated borders are the same for all the books, and only the inside illustration changes for each book. 

It's so beautiful. I'm so happy :) This back of book summary is accurate, I feel. 

 

I did not end up buying and keeping a deluxe edition TCON omnibus after all, as the ones I looked at were all lightly damaged in some way and/or had very uneven page edges, unforgivable for such an expensive deluxe special edition with such pretty painted edges. I realize I hadn't really specified whether I kept the copy I exchanged or not, in that blog post. They all went back. I'll keep an eye out at bookstores for an undamaged copy with even, flat fore edges, but it's not a priority. Ah well. :/

March reads: Trans Rights Readathon books

The Trans Rights Readathon is March 17-31, and I've tried to read at least a couple of books for it each year ever since I heard about it. There's a bingo with prompts you can follow, but I didn't really look at them. Here are my TRR books for this year. Still no cover images as Google/Blogger continues to be stupid and act like they can't add cover by url when they could just fine last month.

 

George/Melissa by Alex Gino - earlier middle grade, thrifted paperback. Own Voices (trans author)

George is a closeted trans girl who hates when people refer to her as a boy. Her fourth grade class has read and is putting on a play of Charlotte's Web, and George desperately wants to be Charlotte—but only girls can try out for the part. The way George is able to be true to herself and come out to the people closest to her as Melissa made me so happy! I used both her names in my review as the book refers to her as George for most of it; the book was originally titled George (as my copy is), but it has recently been re-released with the title Melissa. TW for transphobia (including from Melissa's mother, who eventually comes around), dysphoria, bullying, and sexism/gender roles stuff. ★★★★

Both Can Be True by Jules Machias - later middle grade, thrifted paperback. Own Voices (trans author)

Ash has recently had to switch middle schools after getting bullied for being genderqueer. They're in girl mode but feel nervous about their impending boy mode: will people understand and accept them? Is their dad right about how they should pick a side? Daniel is dealing with his parents' separation and criticism from his family for being an overly emotional boy who cries at everything. He impulsively steals a dog that was supposed to be put down at the vet's office where he volunteers and turns to his photography class classmate, Ash, for help taking care of the dog and finding it a home. The 13 year olds like-like each other, but as Ash drifts into boy mode, will Daniel still like them? I felt for and rooted for these kids, and was so happy for them as they learned to embrace the things other people criticized them for. I wish I could punch Ash's dad, though. TW for transphobia, bullying (including physical), dysphoria, terrible parents, sick animals, animal death mentions, and sexism/gender roles stuff. ★★★★

 

Julián Is a Mermaid by and illustrated by Jessica Love - picture book borrowed from my library

I was at work thinking about what to read next for the TRR, and remembered my work library has this picture book (I had previously used it in a book display for Latine Heritage Month). Julián is a small child (fiveish?) who goes with their abuela on the subway and sees some women dressed up as mermaids. They imagine themselves being underwater with colorful fish as a beautiful mermaid with long hair. At home, they grab things from around the house to dress up, and tell their abuela, "I am a mermaid!" She gives Julián a necklace for their costume and takes them to the ocean-themed parade, where they march among the other mermaids and sea creatures. This book has lovely, colorful art and Afrolatine rep. I was happy that Abuela accepted Julián, but found it hard to believe that a latina abuela wouldn't lecture their grandchild about making a mess in the house, especially ripping the fronds out of a fern and pulling a curtain down (maybe it happened off-page lol). Given the art, Julián seems like a trans girl to me, although no terminology is used; I've used they/them pronouns for this reason. I'm not sure if this book is OwnVoices, as there is little personal information in the author's bio. ★★★★