Diana Wynne Jones (CS Lewis) Books in Order

This Diana Wynne Jones section sits on a C. S. Lewis site for a reason. Spellbound is an anthology that brings Lewis into conversation with other fantasy writers, and it’s a natural next step for readers who have loved Narnia and want to see how different authors handle similar ideas.

Jones’s introduction and choices assume that children are capable of handling real danger, real humor, and real moral weight in their stories. That outlook matches Lewis’s own insistence that fairy tales are not an escape from seriousness but a way of thinking about courage, betrayal, loyalty, and grace with the volume turned up.

Within the collection you’ll find an extract from The Silver Chair, set in the same underground kingdom and snake-haunted landscape that Lewis explored at length in his novel. Around it cluster pieces by other writers who send their characters through wardrobes of different sorts—hidden doors, secret spells, strange bargains made on ordinary afternoons.

Because it’s an anthology, Spellbound doesn’t ask you to commit to a long series right away. Each selection stands on its own, making it easy to read aloud, sample different voices, or hand a hesitant reader just a few pages at a time. But together the pieces build a picture of fantasy as a broad, overlapping tradition rather than the work of a single author.

For families and teachers working through Lewis’s books, this page offers a curated side path. You can see where he fits among his peers, notice which neighboring authors resonate, and use Spellbound to keep the sense of wonder alive between longer novels. It’s a reminder that Narnia is one shining country on a much larger imaginative map.