description: 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, among 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 reveled 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 are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter
language: English
title: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
titlecomplete: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
characters: Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Lewis Carroll), The Caterpillar (Lewis Carroll), The March Hare (Lewis Carroll), Dinah (Lewis Carroll), The Red Queen (Lewis Carroll), The White Knight (Lewis Carroll), Humpty Dumpty (Lewis Carroll), The Mock Turtle (Lewis Carroll), The Jabberwock (Lewis Carroll), The Cheshire Cat (Lewis Carroll), The Hatter (Lewis Carroll), The White Queen (Lewis Carroll), The White Rabbit (Lewis Carroll), Alice (Lewis Carroll), The Queen of Hearts (Lewis Carroll), The Dormouse (Lewis Carroll)
genres: Fiction, 19th Century, Classics, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fantasy, Literature, Adventure, Novels
ratings_count: 548357
places: United Kingdom, England, Wonderland
series: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
publisher: Listening Library