Just a story

I often have these thoughts while reading literature for an English class: why can't we just read it? Why can't we just enjoy the story? Get to know the characters? Breathe in the language and the atmosphere? I understand that sometimes a deeper understanding of the themes, background, or underlyings messages also increase the reader's appreciation of the story. However, sometimes I think we go to far in our analizing. This came to me again when reading through the blogs. I'm not slamming anyone's blogs because they were actually all really interesting points that got me thinking. But it did make me wonder again why, for a book to be considered worthy of our time, it has to be filled with secret hints and meaning. A book that's thought-provoking or deep or complex, fine. But why does the Narnia series, for example, have to be an allegory? Why can't they just be interesting stories and still be worth something for that fact alone?
I think this type of book (the kind that finds a happy medium between shallow and boring and yet not necessarily at the level of a higher education textbook) is the type that Lewis is referring to when he says that any good childrens' book is just a good book. Like good Disney movies (like Rascal mentions, and which, mostly, are childrens' stories), a good book, childrens' or not, will have more meaning as the reader progresses in his/her life. All of its factors will develop and mature with the reader, but the basic story will still be great.
Anyway, I'm not sure this adequately wraps up what I've been trying to put in words, but I hope it at least made sense! :)