The pocket guide is an adventurer’s passport to the land of Narnia. From Aslan, the great lion, to Zardeenah, the mysterious lady of the night, this comprehensive and accessible companion contains hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries covering all the characters, events, places, and themes that Lewis magically wove into his timeless and magical world.

This little book will be perfect for the millions of kids and parents who already love the Narnia books and want to go deeper into that world, as well as for those newly drawn to the story by the Narnia movie. The Pocket Companion is a perfect gift book, a natural movie tie-in, and will continue to help readers and fans get closer to the magical world of Narnia for years to come.

Paul F. Ford has been a student of the life and writings of C. S. Lewis since 1961. He received his master’s degree with his thesis “The Life of the World to Come in the Writings of C. S. Lewis” and his doctorate with his dissertation “C. S. Lewis: Ecumenical Spiritual Director: A Study of His Experience and Theology of Prayer and Discernment in the Process of Becoming a Self.” He founded the Southern California C. S. Lewis Society in 1974 and was vice-president of the C. S. Lewis Foundation, Redlands, California. He is also a director of the Kilns Oxford, Ltd., and was instrumental in the purchase and renovation of Lewis’s home as a study and retreat center.

Dr. Ford studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood for twelve years. Rather than being ordained, he became a Benedictine monk at St. Andrew’s Abbey, Valyermo, California, where he lived for five years. The monastery sent him to be the first Roman Catholic doctoral student in the School of Theology at Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, California, where, for ten years, he was a teaching assistant and lecturer in New Testament spirituality and in the theology of C. S. Lewis. He was the scholar guest of honor of the Mythopoeic Society for its observations of the centenary of Lewis’s birth at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, in the summer of 1998.

Dr. Ford contributed eleven entries, including all the entries on the Chronicles of Narnia, to The C. S. Lewis Reader’s Encyclopedia, Jeffrey D. Schultz and John G. West Jr., eds. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998).

Dr. Ford is a professor of theology and liturgy at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California. He is married to the philosopher Janice Daurio, Ph.D., who teaches philosophy at Moorpark College. They make their home in Camarillo.

As a leader in worship education, Dr. Ford was honored by Cardinal Roger Mahony with the Laudatus Award for 1995 “for excellence in the promotion of the liturgical life of the parishes and the people of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.”

Dr. Ford’s latest music publications are the book and CD By Flowing Waters: Chant for the Liturgy (1999), the booklet and double-CD Lord, By Your Cross and Resurrection: The Chants of By Flowing Waters for Holy Week and Easter Sunday (2001), and Psallite: Sacred Songs for Liturgy and Life (CD, music book, full music edition, 2005) — all published by The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN.

Updates to this Pocket Companion and to the full-size Companion and other Narnian helps are available at his website: www.pford.stjohnsem.edu/ford/cslewis/narnia.htm. Contact him at: companion_to_narnia@hotmail.com.

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