There was once a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. He didn't call his Father and Mother 'Father' and 'Mother', but Harold and Alberta. They [his family] were very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegetarians, non-smokers and tee-totallers, and wore a special kind of underclothes. In their house there was very little furniture and very few clothes on beds and the windows were always open. (ch. 1)

'You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve', said Aslan. 'And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow th…

He liked books if they were books of information and had pictures of grain elevators or of fat foreign children doing exercises in model schools. (ch. 1)

'Welcome, Prince,' said Aslan. 'Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?' 'I - I don't think I do, Sir,' said Caspian. 'I'm only a ki…

Americans once expected parents to raise their children in accordance with the dominant cultural messages. Today they are expected to raise their children in o…

'Fussy eater' is a euphemism for 'big pain in the ass'.

Children are tough, though we tend to think of them as fragile. They have to be tough. Childhood is not easy. We sentimentalize children, but they know what's …