The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland [Box set] [Hardcover]

Lewis Carroll (Author), L Carroll (Author), L Zwerger (Author), L Frank Baum (Author), Lisbeth Zwerger (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 1903 | Age Level: 9 and up

This is award-winning illustrator Zwerger's acclaimed interpretations of two beloved children's classics in one boxed set. Full-color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym of the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford University, but he is better known to the world as the author of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) and "Through the Looking-glass" (1871), as well as "The Hunting of the Snark "(1876).

Lisbeth Zwerger was born in Vienna, where she later studied at the Academy of Art. Internationally renowned as one of the finest contemporary illustrators of children's literature, Zwerger chose "The Gift of the Magi" as the first American story she illustrated.

Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919) was born in Chittenango, New York. After trying many different professions, he turned to writing for children at the age of 40. "The Wizard of Oz "is the first and most popular of his fourteen Oz novels.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: NorthSouth; 2 volume set in a slipcase edition (September 8, 1903)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735813426
• ISBN-13: 978-0735813427
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,420,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), the pen name of Oxford mathematician, logician, photographer and author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is famous the world over for his fantastic classics "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," "Through the Looking Glass," "The Hunting of the Snark," "Jabberwocky," and "Sylvie and Bruno."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars artistic license or mere sloppiness?, September 7, 2003

By 

nlonghu "nebula" (Finland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland (Hardcover)

I really wanted to like this boxed edition of Alice In Wonderland and Wizard of Oz, as I happen to admire Lisbeth Zwerger's art. Unfortunately, there were glaring inconsistencies between the illustrations and the text which marred any appreciation I could have had. I'll just give one--the first I noticed when I opened _Alice In Wonderland_.

In the scene where Alice encounters the rather severe and pedantic caterpillar, Zwerger adopts what I consider an inappropriate top-down perspective, reducing the caterpillar to a small, weak creature and completely ignoring the fact that Alice is the same size as the caterpillar and viewing him from a lower position (he sits on a mushroom, thereby gaining height over Alice). The text specifies that Alice has to stand on tiptoe to see what is on top of the mushroom. I have always thought that young readers (as well as old) are meant to identify with Alice and see things from her perspective. Instead, we tower over the caterpillar, taking away the unusual perspective that Dodgson would have wished us to have. Tenniel's illustration is faithful to the the text and the child's perpsective--which Zwerger's is not.

What is more, with Zwerger's perspective, it is difficult to imagine the caterpillar as a stern, brusque, off-putting character-- much like some adults who have little tolerance for children("Who are _you_?";or "What do you mean by that?" said the caterpillar sternly "Explain yourself.") The text mentions, among other things, that Alice is rather shy of him. From Alice's (and thus the reader's) perpective, the caterpillar is an intimidating figure. Not so in Zwerger's interpretation, where the caterpillar is not only diminutive, but nervous, self-conscious-looking thing, puffing on a cigarette.

Which brings me to the most glaring and incomprehensible departure from the text: the cigarette. The story clearly indicates that the caterpillar is smoking a hookah. Zwerger perversely ignores the details of the story and substitutes hookah for ciggy. Is this artistic license, or sloppiness? Either way, a child reading "hookah" for the first time will be betrayed by Zwerger's illustration; older readers who like to think the artist should be faithful to the text will find the changes annoying.

Together, these inconsistencies dampen the pleasure I might have gained from Zwerger's lovely pictures and Carroll's story.

And this was just one picture, from the Alice book only; there are a few other mismatches and inconsistencies running through the book. I haven't yet looked at those of Oz, but I am too disappointed with the first to try.

For the meanwhile, the books remain in their slipcase, in a remote part of the bookshelf, while I enjoy the original and delightful illustrations by Tenniel.