The Chronicles of Narnia she felt were upsetting to children. Poskanzer also noted Lewis presented his Christian message subtly enough as to avoid boring children with overt sermonizing. Examples include: Philip Pullman's fantasy series, "His Dark Materials", is seen as a response to "The Chronicles". Pullman is a self-described atheist who wholly rejects the spiritual themes that permeate "The Chronicles", yet his series nonetheless addresses many of the same issues and introduces some similar character types, including talking animals. In another parallel, the first books in each series – Pullman's "Northern Lights" and "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" – both open with
The Horse and His Boy The Horse and His Boy The Horse and His Boy is a novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1954. Of the seven novels that comprise "The Chronicles of Narnia" (1950–1956), "The Horse and His Boy" was the fifth to be published; it is also one of four of the novels that Lewis finished writing before the first book in the series had been published. In recent editions of "The Chronicles of Narnia" that are sequenced according to the history of the fictional land of Narnia, "The Horse and His Boy" is the third book