Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Hugh Haughton (Editor), John Tenniel (Illustrator) "Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she..." (more)
Key Phrases: mock turtle, little golden key, beautiful soup, Mock Turtle, Red Queen, Humpty Dumpty (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Bored on a hot afternoon, Alice follows a White Rabbit down a rabbit-hole without giving a thought about how she might get out. And so she tumbles into Wonderland: where animals answer back, a baby turns into a pig, time stands still at a disorderly tea party, croquet is played with hedgehogs and flamingos, and the Mock Turtle and Gryphon dance the Lobster Quadrille. In a land in which nothing is as it seems and cakes, potions and mushrooms can make her shrink to ten inches or grow to the size of a house, will Alice be able to find her way home again?

About the Author

Lewis Carroll was the pen-name of the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Born in 1832, he was educated at Rugby School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he was appointed lecturer in mathematics in 1855, and where he spent the rest of his life. In 1861 he took deacon's orders, but shyness and a constitutional stammer prevented him from seeking the priesthood. He never married, but was very fond of children and spent much time with them. His most famous works, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872), were originally written for Alice Liddell, the daughter of the dean of his college. Charles Dodgson died of bronchitis in 1898.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (April 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141439769
• ISBN-13: 978-0141439761
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,338 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightfully silly and witty, May 4, 2006

By	Jesse Rouse (Kenosha, WI) - See all my reviews

I had not read these books since I was probably seven or eight, and I am glad that I finally got around to reading them again. These are some of the most fun childrens books (or any books for that matter) ever written. A previous reviewer gave this book a poor rating because it was only a childrens book. I fail to understand how being a childrens book means that a book is bad. Many childrens book are among the best books that I have ever read. Just because a book is a childrens book does not mean that it is a book just for children. Lewis Carroll wrote this for children, but it is probably even more enjoyable for me to read now than it was when I was a child, for now I understand many of the double meanings and world plays that you would never understand as a child. Carroll is better with word plays than any other author that I can recall reading. He is a master of molding sentences that simply slide right off of your tongue because they flow so smoothly. This is definitely one of the best childrens books ever written.

Overall grade: A+

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Only Two Stars for the Penguin Edition, September 11, 2007

By	Paul H. Schnaars "pschnaz17" (Houston) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's a fantastic book, of course, and it certainly doesn't need me to praise it as millions have done before. It's probably one of the most unique things ever written: the only book that could be considered both completely a children's story and completely a book for adults. The only problem with the Penguin edition is that it's grossly over-annotated. For scholars this may be very helpful, but sadly enough a lot of the notes are either irrelevant to non-professors or provide critical instead of historical or biographical commentary which, in my opinion, ruins the greatest delight of the book: AAIW/TLG are highly interpretable and symbolic stories, but unfortunately the commentator is always interrupting like a nagging pedant before the reader has a chance to reflect. Once again, both stories well deserve their status as true English classics but another edition might be a better choice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Of Alice, July 28, 2009

By	Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

People tend to lump "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass (and What Alice Found There)" into one collection which has taken on the new title of "Alice in Wonderland". This is probably a product of the movies, which took bits and pieces from each and made a composite adventure. This was possible, because Lewis Carroll (a.k.a. Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) managed to make the stories so even in quality that they can be put together seamlessly. He also managed to keep the stories enough different, that one can still enjoy reading both of them one after the other, without the feeling that the second is just a retelling of the first.

To be sure, there are several ways in which the stories are similar, but not to the point where it detracts from the reader's enjoyment of the story. There are only three characters which appear in both books, one of which is Alice. The other notable characters (the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, etc.) are well distributed between the two books. Thus there is a looking-glass between the two, just as the looking-glass plays such a key role in the second book.

The Penguin Classics edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass" includes both books including the illustrations by John Tenniel. It also includes the original "Alice's Adventures under Ground" which includes Lewis Carroll's artwork. For additional features, it includes `"Alice" on the Stage' an article which Lewis Carroll wrote after seeing a production of the stage version, and it includes preface's to the books which Lewis Carroll wrote in 1896 for the 1897 editions. There are wonderful notes for both books, and a very informative introduction by Hugh Haughton. There is other supporting material as well. To sum up, this edition has pretty much anything one could want, other than a complete collection of Carroll's work.

A last comment on the introduction, it covers the biographical information for Reverend Dodgson, and the information on how the stories came about. Some of this information may detract from one's enjoyment of the story, but one can certainly understand the decision to include it for those who are interested in Reverend Dodgson and his life. All in all, this edition is packed with everything and will suit those who just want to read the stories as well as those who want to delve deep into their origins.