The Chronicles of Narnia Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" until 1949. "The Magician's Nephew", the penultimate book to be published, but the last to be written, was completed in 1954. Lewis did not write the books in the order in which they were originally published, nor were they published in their current chronological order of presentation. The original illustrator, Pauline Baynes, created pen and ink drawings for the "Narnia" books that are still used in the editions published today. Lewis was awarded the 1956 Carnegie Medal for "The Last Battle", the final book in the saga. The series was first referred to as
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.