Narnia a big hit in Christian shops

WITH yesterday’s release of the film version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the marketing push to promote the sale of Narnia books and other related merchandise is reaching a crescendo in the US — and nowhere more so than in Christian retail stores.

Christian references can be found throughout the best-selling fantasy novel, which follows the adventures of four young siblings during World War II who discover a world of fauns, centaurs, unicorns and talking animals inside an armoire. The heroic lion Aslan, a symbol of Jesus Christ, battles the White Witch, who is seen by some to represent a servant of Satan if not the devil himself. The residents of Narnia refer to a human boy as “a Son of Adam” and to a girl as “a Daughter of Eve.”

The seven-title Narnia series is published by HarperCollins.

Its Zondervan division, a publisher of Bibles and other religious books, is responsible for getting Narnia items into Christian bookstores and gift shops.

Zondervan’s president Doug Lockhart said sales at Christian stores are going through the roof, though he declined to release figures.

“It has been a very stable franchise but with the exposure that has been associated with this upcoming movie release, the sales have taken a dramatic increase, multiple times,” he said.