Into the Wardrobe

So why would the reading order more important in the Narnia books than in other series such as Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales or Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books? I don't think any author would insist on it, but if the character is younger in a certain book such as Hawkeye in The Deerslayer and middle aged in The Pathfinder those books should be read before The Pioneers, in which he is old. Laura Ingalls was a very young girl in Little House in the Big Woods, which should probably be read first. With James Fenimore Cooper you have to decide which is more important-- the experience of the author in creating the stories or the order of the events in the character's life. With Laura Ingalls Wilder the writing order of her Little House books is generally the same as the sequence of events in her childhood. The author and the character whose perspective the stories are told from are the same, which may be an advantage in making them easy for the reader to understand. Simplicity is one of that series' best qualities, perhaps one of the reasons why so many people have loved the Little House series for all of these years.

Larry W.