Looking for a high-interest novel for your upper elementary or middle school ELA classroom? The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis is a classic for a reason.
This beloved fantasy novel takes students into the magical world of Narnia while providing countless opportunities to teach reading comprehension, vocabulary, literary analysis, character development, theme, symbolism, writing, and critical thinking.
If you’re looking for a book that will keep students reading while giving you plenty to discuss and teach, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an excellent choice for a 4th, 5th, or 6th grade novel study.
Why Teach The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?
There is a lot more to this novel than a magical wardrobe and a talking lion. C. S. Lewis’s story gives students a rich text to explore while introducing them to complex characters, meaningful themes, and classic fantasy storytelling.
1. Students Love the Magic and Adventure
One of the biggest advantages of using The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a classroom novel is its ability to capture students’ attention.
Four siblings discover a mysterious wardrobe that leads to the magical land of Narnia, where they encounter talking animals, mythical creatures, an evil queen, and Aslan, the powerful lion.
The adventure keeps students turning the pages—and that’s exactly what you want when you’re trying to build a classroom culture around reading.
A high-interest novel can make it easier to engage reluctant readers and encourage students to participate in discussions about what they’re reading.
2. The Novel Is Filled With Important Themes
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe provides natural opportunities for meaningful classroom conversations about:
- Good vs. evil
- Courage
- Friendship
- Loyalty
- Betrayal
- Forgiveness
- Sacrifice
- Redemption
- Responsibility
- The consequences of our choices
These themes give students opportunities to connect the story to their own experiences and think beyond simply remembering what happened in each chapter.
3. It’s Excellent for Teaching Character Development
The Pevensie children give students plenty to analyze as characters.
Edmund’s choices, in particular, provide an excellent opportunity to discuss character development, motivation, conflict, consequences, and redemption.
Students can examine how characters change throughout the novel and identify the events that influence those changes.
This makes The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe a particularly useful book for teaching character analysis and supporting students as they learn to use evidence from a text to explain their thinking.
4. There’s Plenty of Literary Analysis to Explore
If you’re teaching literary elements, this novel gives you plenty to work with.
Students can identify and analyze:
- Setting
- Character
- Conflict
- Plot
- Point of view
- Foreshadowing
- Symbolism
- Theme
- Imagery
- Figurative language
The fantasy setting also allows students to examine how an author creates an imaginary world and makes it feel believable to the reader.
5. It Builds Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking
A good novel study should do more than ask students to recall what happened.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe gives students opportunities to make predictions, draw inferences, identify important details, analyze characters, determine themes, and support their answers with evidence from the text.
As students move through the story, they can practice thinking critically about why characters make certain choices and how those choices affect the plot.
That’s what makes a novel like this so valuable as the foundation for a complete ELA unit.
6. Narnia Inspires Imagination and Creativity
The world of Narnia is one of the most memorable elements of the book.
Talking animals, mythical creatures, an enchanted wardrobe, a magical land, and an epic battle give students plenty of opportunities to use their imaginations.
You can extend the novel into creative writing activities, artwork, discussion, and projects that allow students to respond to the story in different ways.
For students who love fantasy, this can be a particularly engaging way to build a stronger connection with reading.
Turn The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Into a Complete Novel Study
While reading the novel together can be rewarding, creating all of the comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, writing assignments, assessments, and other lessons yourself can take a lot of time.
That’s why I created a no-prep The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Novel Study.
This complete ELA novel unit for grades 4–6 provides ready-to-use activities to help students dig deeper into the book while saving you hours of planning.
The novel study includes chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions, vocabulary and grammar activities, writing activities, assessments, literary analysis activities, teacher materials, answer keys, and more.
It’s available in printable and digital formats, so you can use the materials in whatever way works best for your classroom.
See what people are saying about the Chronicles of Narnia Novel Studies by The Teaching Bank!
Want to Take a Look Inside?
Try the free sample to see how you can use this Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe novel study with your students.
When you’re ready for the complete unit:
Teaching More Than One Narnia Book?
If The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is part of a larger Chronicles of Narnia reading unit, you can also save with the Chronicles of Narnia Novel Studies Bundle.
Make The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Your Next Classroom Novel
Whether you’re planning a whole-class novel study, literature circles, small-group reading, or an independent reading unit, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe offers an engaging combination of adventure, memorable characters, important themes, and rich literary elements.
It’s a classic that gives students plenty to enjoy—and gives teachers plenty to teach.
Ready to make your Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe unit easier?
Check out the complete no-prep novel study and spend less time creating materials and more time helping your students fall in love with reading.
Connect with Fellow Educators!
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