Also by this author: The Birds of Christmas
Series: Incredible Lives for Young Readers
Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers on October 20, 2026
Genres: Children's, Children's Educational, Non-Fiction, Biography
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A lonely, imaginative boy becomes the world-renowned author of The Chronicles of Narnia in this spellbinding biography of C.S. Lewis.
Once a boy was born to make stories: C.S. Lewis. He insisted on being called “Jack” and loved to write and draw with his older brother. But after his mother died, he was shipped to boarding school, where he longed for real friends and sought refuge in books. And words and stories would strengthen him during World War I, connect him to bookish friends like J.R.R. Tolkien, and drive him toward his destiny as a world-renowned author…
With lyrical words from Suzanne Poulter Harris and lush, fantastical art from Mira Miroslavova, The Boy Behind the Wardrobe goes beyond the traditional picture book biography to explore the history and emotional trajectory of a child who struggled to fit in, yet created books beloved by millions around the globe. Like the wardrobe transporting the Pevensies to Narnia, this biography will transport readers into Lewis’s solitary childhood, his fantastic imagination, and his journey of hope. An author’s note, timeline, bibliography, and other back matter offer additional insights into Jack’s life and inspiration.
The Boy Behind the Wardrobe is Suzanne Poulter Harris’s debut picture book, shaped by the echoes of Narnia that she found in her homeland of Northern Ireland.
We tend to think of CS Lewis as an old man. Photos of him show him in his fifties, but looking older by modern standards. He’s balding, sometimes wearing round-rimmed spectacles, sometimes puffing on a cigar, dressed like an academic, almost always in black-and-white. He’s the epitome of the teacher you can’t imagine existing outside of the schoolgrounds or the grandfatherly figure you can’t believe was once a child. And yet, it might come as no surprise, that Lewis—a man who wrote fantastical tales of talking animals, children who become Kings and Queens (and who receive a surprise visit from Santa Claus, no less!)—was once a very imaginative young child.
The Boy Behind the Wardrobe tells the story of CS Lewis’s younger life and the trauma that led to him losing himself in self-created fantasy worlds. Author Suzanne Poulter Harris doesn’t shy away from this, accurately detailing the tragic death of Lewis’s mother that led to him being shipped out to a boarding school where the headmaster was viciously cruel. But neither does she linger on these aspects, simply stating them matter-of-factly as part of what drove Lewis’s early years.
From there, we learn about how Lewis eventually finished school with a private tutor, received a placement at Oxford, but then got drafted into the first World War. He returned and ended up teaching at Oxford, becoming the academic—and Christian apologist—that made him famous. There’s one panel that reads “His Oxford friends called him Jack. Others knew him as C.S. Lewis, the brilliant teacher and intellectual giant. But Jack felt more like a child than a giant.”
The second World War—where Lewis sheltered children from London evacuated due to bombings—is what led to a rekindled connection to children and his childhood stories. And that’s where Narnia was born.
The book ends with a quote from Lewis in a letter to a child: “I was writing stories before I was your age, and if you try, I’m sure you would find it great fun.” That’s what I loved about The Boy Behind the Wardrobe. It isn’t just a children’s biography; it’s a reminder that the people of whom we write biographies were also children once—and that their passions and dreams as a child shaped who they became. The Boy Behind the Wardrobe tells Lewis’s story, but it also reminds children, particularly the ones whose heads are always full of stories, that those stories matter.
The actual biography of Lewis is nothing special. It’s simple and matter-of-fact, a bit sparse on detail but given that it’s a children’s picture book, it rather has to be. Where it shines is in how it connects Lewis to the reader. Mira Miroslavova’s illustrations are wonderful, evoking Pauline Baynes’ original illustrations from The Chronicles of Narnia while remaining distinctive in their own right. It’s a great introductory biography for kids who are just at the age to read the Narnia books or have it read to them. Our vision of CS Lewis is that of an old man, but The Boy Behind the Wardrobe introduces us to the boy named Jack whose boyish presence never left the man he would become.