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To water roses properly, I was once told, one needs a tall drink, a copy of "War and Peace" and a garden hose that trickles water slowly. To enjoy the summer properly, one needs a tall glass of ice tea, a copy of "The Chronicles of Narnia," and an eager 10-year-old able to sit for the length of time it would take to water the roses.

My copy of "The Chronicles of Narnia" is two inches thick and has a wonderful picture of the Lion Aslan on its cover. I am particularly fond of this collection of C.S. Lewis' seven books about Narnia as it encases a world rich in fantasy and make believe.

C. S. Lewis, aka Clive Staples Lewis, is a writer of adult and children's literature. I first discovered him as a children's author, only later discovered him as a writer of adult literature. It was his "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," written in l949, that first caught and fired my imagination about the mythical land of Narnia, which four siblings discovered by stepping through the backside of a wardrobe - a piece of furniture in which old coats were stored by the owner of the house where the youngsters had been sent for safekeeping during the war.

During a hot summer of sparse resources, when London was being bombed, Lucy and her siblings - Susan, Edmund and Peter - are in the countryside discovering a world of make believe, complete with talking animals, bad Queens, snow encrusted trees, luscious sugary treats, broken promises and trust restored.

It was a story that children needed then and continue to need. It was a story of courage under fear, and hope restored when all seems lost. The story of Narnia can be taken simply as a story of magical thinking for children; it can be understood on many other levels as well, with character, plot and battle viewed as a metaphor for life.

I thought about the Narnia books after a recent viewing of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" now in movie houses. Had I not taken a friend along, I would have had a private showing as the newly renovated theater was entirely empty but for the two of us. Because the theater is underground and large, it was like sitting in the underground cave from which a diverse group of villagers emerge to do battle against the forces of evil that come to destroy the Narnians, as they do in the movie.

It is a bit risky to take someone to a movie of this magnitude that has not read any of the Narnia books; a fact I discovered as we were walking down the stairs to the screening of the movie.

We emerged from the darkness of the cavernous theater into bright sunlight, confirmed in the notion that at some point in our lives, we all need a Narnia where fear is conquered and hope restored.

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