What was the title of C.S. Lewis’s first book for children?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was C.S. Lewis’s first book for children.

Published in 1950, it introduced readers to Narnia, a fantasy world entered through a wardrobe by four English siblings: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie. The story features Aslan, the White Witch, the talking animals of Narnia, and the return of spring after a long winter.

Although it is the first Narnia book Lewis wrote and published, it is not first in the internal chronology used by many later editions. The Magician’s Nephew, published in 1955, describes Narnia’s creation and is often placed first in chronological reading order. Lewis himself originally presented The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as the opening book.

The novel was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, whose artwork became closely associated with the series. It is often shortened in conversation to “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” but the definite articles are part of the canonical title. The book established the setting and characters that later appeared across the remaining six Chronicles of Narnia.