I originally read this (part of the [b:The Chronicles of Narnia Box Set|11134|The Chronicles of Narnia Box Set (The Chronicles of Narnia #1-7)|C.S. Lewis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328809416l/11134._SX50_.jpg|781271]) as a young boy. More accurately, I was read this by my father over the course of many nights. I just completed the first book, reading it to my 4-year-old daughter in much the same fashion. Thanks to fond memories of my first experience with the series (including reading from the same physical copy that my father read to me), I suspect that I am allowing nostalgia to slightly inflate my rating. I have absolute confidence that this book deserves at least a 4-star rating, but I cannot bring myself to deny it the 5th star here.
The language is perhaps simple from the perspective of an adult, but for a young child, it is just the right level of challenging to neither be boring nor overly complex. That is not to say that the story itself or certainly the underlying themes are simple, and in this way, [a:C.S. Lewis|1069006|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1564671804p2/1069006.jpg] has done yeoman's work.
I could write more in praise of this wonderful children's novel, but I think the highest praise I can place upon it is that upon finishing the final chapter, my daughter insisted that we immediately start the next book in the series ([b:Prince Caspian|317501|Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia, #2)|C.S. Lewis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1370691931l/317501._SY75_.jpg|3348636]), despite it being well past her bedtime. I look forward to continuing the series with her.