Alice's Adventures in Wonderland& Through the Looking Glass
by Lewis Carroll
I am not quite ready to leave off the fantasy/fairy tale genre. I chose Alice because it was available, being on my shelves already, and I thought it would be fun. Both Dragon Slayer and Goldilocks have read it for school and told me how different it was from the Disney version. And it was different, though Disney Incorporated many images from both books into the one movie.
Everyone knows the story of Alice falling down the rabbit hole and finding herself in a place where logic is played with in a most exasperating way so I won't bother you with a summery of the first book. The second book is about Alice's looking-glass world. Instead of playing cards, many of the characters are chess pieces. Alice wants to be a queen like the Red Queen and the White Queen so she takes a trip across the land that is laid out like a chess board, with square forests and valleys. She has various adventures and meets many eccentric(and confusing) personages along the way.
Simply put, I loved it. It is every bit as delightful as the movie, and more so. Alice is endearing and everyone else is entertaining, even while they are ordering execution by beheading. Any child would be charmed by this Wonderland.
An interesting factoid about the author: he wrote himself into the story. Mr. Dodgson(Lewis Carroll's real name) was the Dodo. In fact, most of the other persons in the story were people who were present on the rainy day when the little tale was first told, afterward requested by Alice Liddell to be written down for her personal enjoyment, and later to be published for the pleasure of all children(and a good many adults). If you haven't read it yet I recommend you do.
8 comments:
I love Alice! With my wife's eyebrows raised, I first read this to my daughter when she was 3, we read it again when she was 6, she's now nine, maybe it's time to read it again. (of course, it's hard to read without Jefferson Airplane playing in the back of my head)
I love these books. I really need to read the rest of Lewis Caroll's work.
Lovely review! And I love that cover you posted.
I took a class on Lewis Carrol for my senior seminar (undergrad) and he is a fascinating man! If you like biographies, I would recommend his by Morton. I loved these books, and might have to re-read them soon.
Sorry, looked at the bio and its Morton N Cohen--its been a while.
Sage-what a great memory your daughter will have of this great classic. My husband reads the Narnia books to the family every 4 years. We all look forward to it.
Nymeth-it's the picture cool? It was interesting to learn that the illustrator almost refused to do the pictures for the 2nd book because Lewis Carroll was so difficult to work with.
trish-thanks for the suggestion. I like biographies and would love to learn more about the author. I'll look for the Cohen biography.
I really need to read this book. I've seen the Disney'd version. And I love the Jefferson Airplane song!! Yes...I really must read this!
It looks like we have some challenges in common! GREAT blog!
Thanks for stopping in Stephanie. I have lurked about your blog frequently throughout the Once Upon a Time Challenge. You made some changes to it recently. I love unicorns.
I finished re-reading and reviewing it. I consider it as a great book of all times.
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