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​C.S. Lewis Biography

​C.S. Lewis Biography with accompanying study guide from YWAM Publishing – A Review

What Is It?

When the opportunity to review Christian Heroes- C.S. Lewis, a biography about C.S. Lewis with an accompanying study guide from YWAM Publishing came our way, I could not pass it up. This is more than just your everyday biography. The book and study guide are one in a series called Christian Heroes: Then & Now that allow you and your children a front row seat through the extraordinary life of C.S. Lewis, from a child writing and then playing in imaginary worlds with his brother in the attic, to an adult who dedicates his life to a promise to care for the mother of a comrade killed in WWI.

Each chapter is fairly short and easily readable by children aged 12 and up. As a teen or adult, it is easy to finish this book in an afternoon. If you choose to read the book aloud, however, each chapter takes about 15 to 20 minutes. You can read the book aloud in a total of 6 hours, making it ideal to add additional depth to history of literature you are already studying in your homeschool.

Will It Enhance Your Homeschool?

The biography provides details about the life and trials of C.S. Lewis which can easily help your child understand the context for his children’s books (the Narnia stories) as well as books written for adults such as Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. Your children will understand better the motivations driving C.S. Lewis to write his stories and also the context and relationships with other well-known authors like J.R.R. Tolkein.

What Comes With This Product?

The C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller book comes with a study guide provided as a software download that allows you to expand your child’s study of C.S. Lewis the man and the author.

(1) A Book

YWAM Publishing
Title: C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller

Authors: Janet & Geoff Benge

Publisher: YWAM Publishing

Pages: 191

Recommended Age Level: 10 years and up (great for teens)

Contents: The book has 17 chapters and includes maps as well as a bibliography for further reading.

  1. A Lively Imagination
  2. Big Changes
  3. New Schools, New Trials
  4. “Old Knock”
  5. Into the Trenches
  6. An Oxford Scholar
  7. Leaving Ireland Behind
  8. A Failure of Imagination
  9. Inklings
  10. War Again
  11. A Radio Star
  12. A Children’s Fairy Tale
  13. Chronicling Narnia
  14. New Opportunities
  15. The Two Weddings of C.S. Lewis
  16. Some of the Happiest Days of His Life
  17. In the Shadowlands
  18. Note to Readers
  19. Bibliography

(2) An Accompanying Study Guide:

Suggested ways to use the study guide include:

  • Studying key Bible verses
  • Answering chapter questions
  • Exploring related topics that interest your child
  • Scheduling a guest speaker (if your are doing this as a group)
  • Mapping exercises (maps included in study guide)
  • Reading additional books or articles (list provided to get you started)
Study Guide Contents Overview

The study guide is delivered as a html file download that you navigate using an offline web browser. The study guide for the C.S. Lewis biography includes the following sections:

  • C.S. Lewis
  • A short biographical sketch
  • Curriculum Unit Study Information
    • Guides for Classroom/Home and Small Group Use
      • Classroom & Home (a 13 page PDF)
        • Introduction
        • How to Use the Unit Studies with Christian Heroes: Then & Now Biographies
        • Working with Students of Varying Ability Levels and Learning Styles
        • Reading Christian Heroes without Unit Study Curriculum Guides
        • Choosing Christian Heroes Books for Your Group, Homeschool, or Family
        • Using the Christian Heroes Books for Academic Study
      • Small Groups (an 11-page PDF)
        • Introduction
        • Selecting a Christian Heroes Biography for Your Sunday School or Small Group
        • Using Biographies with Unit Study Curriculum Guides
        • Using Biographies without Unit Study Currculum Guides
    • Unit Study – Part 1 (82-page PDF)
      • Introduction
      • Key Bible Verses
      • Display Corner
      • Chapter Questions
      • Student Explorations
      • Community Links
      • Social Studies
      • Related Themes to Explore
      • Culminating Event
      • Appendix A – Books and Resources
      • Appendix B – Answers to Chapter Questions
      • Appendix C – Social Studies Reproducibles Description
    • Unit Study – Part 2 (This 3 Page PDF contains the actual Social Studies Reproducible Documents)
      • UK Fact Sheet with fill-in-the-blanks for a range of facts about the country
      • Blank Country Map of Europe
      • Blank Country Map of United Kingdom
  • Meet the Authors section (This takes you to the online html page of YWAM Publishing entitled Heroes Series – Bonus Section. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will find 6 videos by and about the authors, Janet and Geoff Benge)
    1. Meet the Benges – Part 1 (20:39 minutes)
    2. Meet the Benges – Part 2 (15:46 minutes)
    3. The Characters (16:36 minutes)
    4. The Research (22:01 minutes)
    5. The Stories About the Stories (8:50 minutes)
    6. Writing the Stories (15:22 minutes)
  • Reader Reviews (This takes you to the same online html page of YWAM Publishing entitled Heroes Series – Bonus Section.)
    • Scroll down the page to find 3 reviews under the header ‘Video Reviews’. These are download-able videos in mp4 format.
  • Bonus Materials (This takes you to the same online html page of YWAM Publishing entitled Heroes Series – Bonus Section. In addition to the Meet the Authors, Reader Reviews, there are sections with a huge variety of material)
    • Word Puzzles
    • Crossword Puzzles
    • Coloring Pages
    • Overview Guides
    • Answer Keys
    • Heroes for Young Readers Companion CD track listing (pdf files)
    • And a host of other extras
  • More Heroes (This takes you to YWAM Publishing’s online store to shop for other Heroes books.)
    • For a list of other available biographies (taken from the study guide materials) see the list below.
  • About YWAM (This takes you to an offline html page that has the contact information for YWAM Publishing, as well as a link to a corporate summary online at YWAM Publishing’s web site.)

Suggested Use

The publishers suggest you use both the book and the accompanying study guide. This would work very well with younger children, however I found that my teens preferred to read and discuss the book without the unit study. I did use the study guide to direct the discussions, however.

The Study Guide also includes a suggested pacing guide for grades 3/4 and 5/6 to give you a framework if you decide to expand the biography into a unit study.

Time Required To Teach The Biography

Preparation Time: 15-30 minutes (read study guide material and make notes)

Teaching Time: 15-30 minutes (The time here depends on whether you use the study guide as suggested, adapt it into an oral post reading discussion, or opt to only read the biography.)

Student Activity Time: 30-60 minutes (This is the time to complete activities if you use the study guide and expand the biography into a unit study)

How We Used It

Given that my kids are teenagers who love being read to and discussing ideas, I read the book aloud to them at an easy pace of a couple of chapters each day. They would interrupt the reading quite often to interject bits of related information or to discuss aspects of C.S. Lewis’ life that were surprising or new to them. Then when I finished the chapter, we would sit for a while and expand the discussion, using the study guide as a guide for me to direct the conversation.

My children, being teenagers, don’t like comprehension questions very much anymore, so I adapted the study guide by reading through it before reading a section of the book aloud to my kids. Then we discussed the chapter and I made sure to cover the study guide material in a free form manner, so that my kids never even knew they were using the study guide.

“Interject from Doodle One, she’s right, we never noticed.”

Did We Like It?

Oh, boy howdy – did we ever! This was the first time I had read any of the Christian Heroes: Then and Now series from YWAM Publishing and my children and I are very impressed. The writing is good, the stories and details are excellent, and overall my children gained a deep understanding of C.S. Lewis, the reasons he turned away from his beliefs, and the Christian characteristics which drove him to rediscover his faith as an adult. This is a great story for teenagers.

General Features

  • Made for Homeschoolers
  • Easy to Adapt To Your Homeschool
  • Adapts to Teach Multiple Children (Multiple Ages)
  • Accessible to Children with Dylsexia / Dysgraphia
  • Works with Gifted Children

Works with these Age Ranges

  • Elementary (4-6)
  • Middle Years (6-8)
  • High School (9-12)

Good For These Educational Styles

  • Classical
  • Traditional (like public school)
  • Eclectic
  • Unschooling
  • Unit Study
  • Charlotte Mason

Subjects Covered

  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Religion
  • Social Studies / History

For Kids Who Like

  • Discussion
  • Unit Studies

YWAM Publishing

Other Biographies from YWAM Reviewed by other homeschooling moms at the Homeschool Review Crew

And you can read reviews of all these great books by clicking through here…

Christian & History Heroes {YWAM Publishing Reviews}

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