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 Chronicles of Narnia "Narnia" stories. Lewis maintained that the "Narnia" books were not allegorical, preferring to term their Christian aspects a "supposition". "The Chronicles" have, consequently, a large Christian following, and are widely used to promote Christian ideas. However, some Christians object that "The Chronicles" promote "soft-sell paganism and occultism" due to recurring pagan imagery and themes. In later years, both Lewis and the "Chronicles" have been criticised (often by other authors of fantasy fiction) for gender role stereotyping, though other authors have defended Lewis in this area. For example, Lucy gets a healing potion and a dagger, while Peter gets a sword.