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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Teaser: Edmund and Lucy join their cousin Eustace Clarence Scrubb ("he almost deserved it"), who becomes an unwilling voyager on a ship with King Caspian. Caspian (and Reepicheep) propose to sail to the World's End. They do. Aslan tells Edmund and Lucy that they are now too old for Narnia and must learn to see him - Aslan - in their own world.

Aslan does not always choose the most obvious people to enter Narnia, and C.S. Lewis begins The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by telling us, "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." Not surprisingly, Eustace does not like his cousins, Lucy and Edmund, and when they are sent to stay with him one summer, Eustace can only think how he can make their stay miserable. But this is before the three children see the picture in Lucy's room. Edmund and Lucy recognize it at once as a Narnian ship.

Her prow was gilded and shaped like the head of a dragon with wide-open mouth. She had only one mast and one large, square sail which was a rich purple. The sides of the ship - what you could see of them where the gilded wings of the dragon ended - were green.
"The question is," said Edmund, "whether it doesn't make things worse, looking at a Narnian ship when you can't get there."

Suddenly, and before the children quite understand what is happening, they are tumbling through the picture and into the blue Narnian sea.

Eustace is horrified. He is not even grateful when Prince Caspian and the Narnian sailors pull him safely aboard the Dawn Treader. But Edmund and Lucy are delighted to see their old Narnian friends, especially Caspian and Reepicheep the fearless mouse. As the days pass, Edmund and Lucy love their life on board ship while Eustace sulks and plots revenge. Even escaping from pirates and a terrible storm do not teach him to value his friends. Finally his meanness and greed give him an opportunity for the revenge he wants. But he has to pay a terrible price. Poor Eustace! He only realises just what a monster he is when he is changed into a huge, scaly dragon!

It was very dreary being a dragon. He shuddered whenever he caught sight of his own reflection ... He hated the huge, batlike wings, the saw-edged ridge on his back, and the cruel, curved claws. He was almost afraid to be alone with himself and yet he was ashamed to be with the others.

But has Aslan forgotten Eustace? Will the children escape the chilling Deathwater Island? Who are the Dufflepuds and what is the secret of the terrifying Dark Island which threatens to draw the Dawn Treader into its shadows for ever. And, finally, what is waiting for them at the End of the World? Will they be strong enough to face the last and greatest test?