Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: AND Through the Looking Glass

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Lewis Carroll

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Pages: 336 (Paperback)

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

ISBN: 0140383514

Pub: Puffin Books

Pub date: 1997-10-30

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 245048

Editorial Review:

Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is, for most children, pure pleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll's putative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate his alleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through the rabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Of wonders wild and new". There they encounter the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle and the Mad Hatter, together with a multitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical and commonplace creatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be "curiouser and curiouser", seemingly without moral or sense.

For more than 130 years, children have revelled in the delightfully non-moralistic, non-educational virtues of this classic. In fact, at every turn Alice's new companions scoff at her traditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that he took the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing and branches of Arithmetic--Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were as important as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; the masterful drawings, reproduced here, are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (All ages)

Reader Reviews:

Quite charming, really (13/18 people found this helpful)

I must confess I had never read the account of Alice's adventures before. As an adult, though, I found the two books to be quite charming and fun to read. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland is the much more enjoyable tale of the two, perhaps because so much of it was already familiar to me as a part of popular culture. Through the Looking Glass seemed to me to be much more contrived and less magical. I found myself trying to puzzle out hidden messages and motifs in the latter work, while I basically just read the Wonderland story for pure enjoyment. The latter tale also seemed to fall apart at the seams as it began to approach its conclusion. Without rereading the books, I have trouble seeing all of the complex and satirical things mentioned by academic types (such as a critique of Victorian society and contemporary educational methods), nor does the whole chess game motif make complete sense to me, although the workings of the game apparently pleased the mathematician in Carroll's alter-ego enough that he attempts to explain it at the start of Through the Looking Glass.

It was a treat to see the original illustrations of John Tenniel interspersed throughout both stories, despite the fact that Alice appears a good bit more sullen than I envision her in my own mind. It was also good to be formally introduced to such well-known entities as the Cheshire Cat, although Humpty Dumpty certainly comes across as a rather taciturn figure. For those of you who love puns, Lewis Carroll offers you a gold mine of them, although I doubt that many children will actually understand very many of them until they reach an age in which they will probably reject a reading of Carroll as "baby stuff." I'm no expert on children's literature (or on children, for that matter), but the story of Alice's adventures would seem to offer a free ticket to an enticing fantasy world for youngsters and a delightfully quaint vacation spot for adult readers.

CORRECTION... (4/5 people found this helpful)

The above synopsis remarks that this edition includes the previously missing 'Wasp in a Wig' episode - in fact it doesn't. That chapter (actually only part of chapter) appears in another edition... however this edition includes comprehensive notes second only to Martin Gardner's annotated edition as well as the full text of Carroll's first draft, 'Alice's Adventures Underground'. As such, this is probably the best value edition of these ingenious and priceless works.

A clever read! (2/5 people found this helpful)

A book that is full of wisdom and fun. Although parts of the book look non-sensical, in the right context, they are the more meaningful parts of the book

Alice Through The Looking Glass....Not just for kids! (2/4 people found this helpful)

Alice through the looking glass is very different from anything I've ever read before, it's just so bizarre! Everything is different, the way people walk, talk, eat and drink, quite confusing! The book isn't jsut for children though as it proves quite interesting to the older generation.

Enjoyment for anyone of any age. (5/6 people found this helpful)

the adventures of Alice is a timeless classic which should be in ever children's library. Following the adventures of Alice, makes you go on an adveture of your own. childern will love it and adults should not disregard it as just a book for childern as there is a deeper side to the story too. Within the frame of a idillic young girl's adventure is Lewis Carroll's own philosophy and debated ideas on an idea world. A story to be enjoyed again and again, for anyone of any age.

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