Written by C.S. Lewis
Illustrated by Pauline Banes
Dedicated to Geoffrey Barfield
1952
The story begins in the bedroom of Eustace Clarence Scrubb..he disliked his cousins, the Pevensies: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. He was small of stature, but somewhat of a bully. The Pevensies had come to stay with him and his family, which they did not want to do, as they dislike Scrubb as well.
Edmund and Lucy were sharing some memories of their adventures in Narnia in a room at the Scrubb house, in which hung a picture of ship sailing straight towards you...the ship had a dragons head on the bow, and was indeed a mighty warship...the Dawn Treader. Lucy was remarking how the ship looked like an Narnian ship, and Eustace began critcizing her "story"...telling her that she was fantasizing again and that it was all nonsense.
Lucy began feeling a "spray" of water from the picture, and before you know it, the children are all transported into the picture and find themselves on the deck of the Dawn Treader. Eustace, being the bully and the whiner, immmediately begins complaining that he wants to go home....here we meet the brave mouse Reepicheep, as he confronts Eustace time and time again. Provisions are running low, and must be rationed, Eustace trys to "steal" more than his share, and Reepicheep catches him and wants to punish him for being so greedy.
On Board the Dawn Treader is King Caspian...the children's old friend from a previous visit to Narnia. Caspian has aged...as Narnian time kept moving...he has become an old man..at first the children do not recognize him as the former Prince Caspian. King Caspian has embarked on a journey to find the 7 lost lords, who were exiled my his evil uncle Miraz....and to sail to the ends of the seas in search for the Land of Aslan...
This book is full of adventures, as the Dawn Treader anchors at various "ports of call" and the crew begin finding the 7 lost lords, one at a time. It is a story of how Eustace slowly transforms from a whiner and a bully to a changed person...as he meets Aslan, who changes him from a dragon back into a boy...an adventure you must read about!!
At the end of the story...the King and the crew to the island of Ramadu, as the brave mouse, Reepicheep journeys on alone beyond the known seas in search of Aslan's home...he is taken into Aslan's home..(the symbolism of Heaven), and the children are transported back to there home by Aslan as he opens the sky for them..
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is full of adventure and symbolism and is a must read...you will want to sail on her often. You will learn bravery and acceptance from the brave little mouse, Reepicheep, and you will see how a person transforms (or can transform) for the "old self" to a new being in meeting of Aslan (the symbol of Christ).
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