Reviews & Recommendations: The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

“Is It Good Enough for Children?”

For those who don’t know, is the title of a short article by children’s author Madeleine L’Engle, most famous for her novel A Wrinkle in Time.  As you might expect, the article addresses the topic of children’s stories, concluding that (spoilers) “if a children’s book is not good enough for all of us, it is not good enough for children.” ¹ Of the articles I’ve read so far on children’s literature, this one and C. S. Lewis’s “On Three Ways of Writing for Children” are my favorites to the point that I consider them “must reads” for any writer and “should reads” for any reader.

Both articles confront the idea of what I call “childish literature,” stories (often for children) where nothing really happens.  There is no danger, no tension, and everything is safe and quiet.  You know what stories I mean.  In contrast, there’s what I call “children’s literature,” stories that are “good enough for all of us” and don’t lose their power as we mature, but rather increase in power and meaning.  Included in these ranks are such titles as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz, and the subject of this week’s post: The Chronicles of Prydain by Llyod Alexander.

To paraphrase an “About the Author” section in one book, Alexander was an American author from Philadelphia with a deep passion for reading and writing.  Among his favorite narratives were classic mythology and folklore of knights and bravery, like King Arthur.  After training for World War II in Wales, he fell in love with the land and its language, a love he transferred and transformed into his own world, Prydain.²

The Prydain Chronicles are a series of five books following the adventures of Taran, assistant pig keeper and wannabe hero.  After an attack on his home by an evil sorcerer and the escape of the pig he keeps, Henwen, Taran chases after Henwen to try and retrieve her.  However, he receives more than he bargained for as he stumbles upon an adventure that changes his life forever.

I really wish I could say more, but further description would give way to spoilers, and we don’t want that, now do we?  In this review, I will address the story as a series rather than individual books because I don’t think I could properly describe my experience unless I discuss the Chronicles as a whole.  Yes, the stories are stand alone, in a way similar to the Harry Potter series, with each novel containing a complete story.  However, the real impact the series has on me involves the narrative as a whole.  You shall see why later.  (Though if I had to pick a favorite, it’d be the second book, The Black Cauldron.)

There really is so much to love in Prydain.  I love all the recurring characters, even those that start out annoying.  They all have such different personalities, and while they aren’t as fleshed out as, say, Potter and his friends, the characters don’t feel like cardboard.  Each character has a different manner of speech and interaction, so that I never confuse one character for the next.

The plots for each volume are different, as well.  There may be some repetition here and there, but each trip to and through the world of Prydain is distinct.  Again, I really wish I could say more, but you should just read them for yourself to see what I mean.

I do have some issues, though, first of which being that the land of Prydain is a very generic “fantasy world” setting.  I wish Alexander had fleshed out his world more.  The other issue, and really my biggest one with the whole series, I will not say here, as it is a major spoiler.  However, even with these two issues, I enjoyed the stories and how distinct each one was from the others.

So, characters and plots, I love them both.  However, as much as I enjoy them, these two aspects are not my favorite part of the stories, which brings me to a third element: themes.  With Alexander’s handling of themes, he wrote stories that became, for me, more than just children’s stories, but the kind of children’s stories that made me wish there was more children’s literature!  What impressed me most is that there are really only two themes in the whole series: identity and what it means to be a hero.  There’re sub-themes that pop up at times about loss and the importance of sacrifice, but it’s really these two themes of identity and heroism that shape the stories.  It is with these two themes that we see and experience Taran’s transformation.

At the story’s beginning, Taran is a teenager desiring to be a hero.  He wants honor and prestige.  He wants to be somebody, somebody great.  Over the course of five books, however, Taran’s understanding of heroism and identity change, as does ours.  Although the question remain the same (What is a hero?  What is honor?  Who am I?), Taran’s answers do not. Each sequential book takes these two themes and unpacks them, adding more layers and maturity with each volume, so that the character of Taran in book one is a different person from Taran of book five.   With The Chronicles of Prydain, Lloyd Alexander taught me not just about heroes and identity, but also about the power of recurring, maturing themes.  Just for that, I cannot recommend this series enough.  

Combining likable characters, varied plots, and a common thread of themes, The Chronicles of Prydain has earned itself a place among my most recommended children’s stories because, if you ask me, this story is definitely good enough for children.



¹L'Engle, Madeleine.  "Is it Good Enough for Children?"  The Christian Imagination.  Leland Ryken.  Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2002.  427-431.  Print.

²Alexander, Lloyd.  The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain.  New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1999.  Print.


The Chronicles of Prydain (c) Lloyd Alexander