November 1st kicks off Narnia November! It’s not an official thing, but I’m hoping it becomes one. The challenge is to read as many of The Chronicles of Narnia books you can this month. It’s open to all ages across all Gracepoint churches, not just Gracepoint Berkeley church. I know November is a busy month, but there’s also Thanksgiving Break, and for some school districts, that’s a whole week of no school! So I think it’s possible.

It doesn’t matter in which order you read the books, whether the one that starts with The Magician’s Nephew or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I personally like the latter, which is the order of writing/publishing, but no matter. The point is the reading. The last time I read the series all the way through was in 1997, so I’m definitely due for a visit to Narnia.

November 1st also signals the official beginning of National Novel Writing Month. This *is* an actual thing, and the goal is for participants to write the novel they’ve always meant to — and the novel needs to be 50,000 words (or more). There is a Young Writer’s Program for NaNoWriMo, in which students can set their own word goals for their novels. I’ve participated (but not completed) several times with different classes over the years. This year some of the 7th and 8th grade girls of Bibliopolis and I will be participating. We’ll see how far I get in my masterpiece. I have the best title and concept ever, but it’s the rest of it that I can’t seem to do! This might be a quantity over quality type of deal, since the goal is to just write. But even if we don’t finish, we’ll challenge ourselves to write more.

Will you be participating in Narnia November? In what order do you read the books? Which is your favorite of the series?