Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [Hardcover]

Alison Jay (Author), Lewis Carroll (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0803729405 | ISBN-13: 978-0803729407 | Publication Date: September 7, 2006

There is perhaps no other children's novel better known than Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which has been reinterpreted broadly, from Disney's beloved film to Robert Sabuda's clever pop-up to Frank Beddor's new fantasy novel. Lewis Carroll's whimsical, fantastical tale grabs every reader's imagination, and it is an artist's dream, bursting with visual possibility.

Alison Jay has long wanted to bring her own perspective to the story. Now she shows us an exhilarating Wonderland, where Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, and all the rest are playfully quirky and adorably fanciful. With the complete, unabridged text and glowing full-color illustrations on nearly every page, this lavish edition is the perfect introduction to the novel—and an elegant gift for those who are already Lewis Carroll fans.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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, 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 --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

wonderland revisited Spanish illustrator Angel Dominguez fills an unabridged edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with 75 watercolors, most of them closely packed with lush oversized flowers, strange creatures and winding vines reminiscent of Art Nouveau-often against bizarrely serene pastoral backgrounds. Exotic birds and animals, such as peacocks and zebras, wander through the picture frame. While the illustrations bring out the text's absurdity, pretty-in-pink Alice provides a counterpoint not of normalcy but of sentimentality.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Dial (September 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803729405
• ISBN-13: 978-0803729407
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (251 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #884,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

189 of 214 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Kindle edition free...and not worth it, September 19, 2010

By 

James Walley (Maple Valley, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Kindle Edition)

"What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?" Someone might have thought to ask that of the compilers of this Kindle edition, which lacks any of the famed Tenniel illustrations, even though they're all in the public domain and have been made available in many on-line versions. Worse, the compilers also omit Carroll's opening poem, "All in the golden afternoon," even though it's an integral part of the book. One gets the feeling that the goal was to not make the free version truly complete, so that one would have to wind up purchasing one of the non-free editions for one's Kindle -- which is probably a better solution from the outset.

118 of 133 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Children's Literature, June 6, 2010

By 

B. Breen "Canuckster1127" (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Kindle Edition)

So, what's a 47 year old doing reviewing a classic children's book? Well, it occurred to me as I was looking through the available books on my Kindle, that many of the free ones (yes I'm quite open to free as an option) that there were many books that I assumed I knew because I had seen movies, seen summarized in some other form or simply because they were cultural icons and "everybody" knows these books.

Many I have indeed read and did read as I was younger. However, now with a Kindle and a commute, it seemed a perfect opportunity to address some of those elements lacking in my basic reading. It was in this spirit that I down loaded Alice's adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and read through it is a remarkably short period of time. Many of these free books on the Kindle, are in the public domain and have been available in text or PDF files for quite some time. A simple conversion in format is all that is required to make it available. The question I asked as I read the book, is does the experience of reading it in this format take away anything from the experience. Children's Literature in particular is often about more than just the words on a page. Of course there are often illustrations, the physical book itself takes on dimensions that are bigger than usual. This adds to the experience of a child reading the book by themselves but in particular it adds to the experience of a child being read to who can then sit in a lap or look as the book as presented and share in the experience by learning to read or reinforcing reading skills.

So, for a aging kid who needs something to read to round out his cultural iconic missing links this worked just fine. However, for those seeking to have an experience with their kids in reading a classic piece of literature, I'd not recommend it in that venue.

As to the story itself, there's little I can say. In some ways, it's like reading a familiar story but in others it's amazing how much can be lost or glossed over in the pop-cultural offerings that sprang from it. Reading this piece of classic literature gives you some insight not only into the time it came from, but also into the heart of childhood that is timeless and can be recaptured at least in part, if we'll pause and exercise our imagination.

4 stars. Absolutely 5 stars as far as the story goes. Because this specifically addresses the Kindle edition, a drop of a star so that any considering reading this to their children from a kindle, consider what might be lost by not obtaining a more traditional copy complete with illustrations and the opportunity to share at a level one notch above what the Kindle offers in this context.

Perhaps something like this Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Take some time and look for what will work best for you and your intended audience.

bart breen

60 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars down the rabbit hole, May 26, 2009

By 

Sassycat (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Kindle Edition)

I forgot how wonderful a tale this is. It is written so well that the images almost jump off the page. Even as an adult I couldn't help but to fall under Carroll's spell.