Top Five Children’s Books and Movies Set in Wartime

by Ernie on 05/07/09 at 10:48 am

5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (WWII)

4. Pan’s Labyrinth (Spanish Civil War)

3. The Golden Compass (the battle between God and the devil)

2. Hope and Glory (WWII)

1. Bednobs and Broomsticks (WWII)

Bethany adds: The Lion, Pan’s Labyrinth, and The Golden Compass are best watched together. The Golden Compass is specifically a response to Lion, with its heroine’s story beginning due to an adventure in a wardrobe, but of a completely different kind than Lion—it sets her on a quest to reject religion, while Lion sets its heroine on a quest to become a Christian. Pan’s Labyrinth (more literally translated from the Spanish as “The Faun’s Labyrinth”) must also be a response to Lion, though we haven’t heard the writer specifically say so; the girl protagonist meets a faun in her new magical world, who becomes her guide, just as in Lucy’s case in Lion, and many other parallels are apparent.