Through the Looking-Glass (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "ONE THING WAS certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it:- it was the black kitten's fault entirely..." (more)
Key Phrases: little brook, Red Queen, Humpty Dumpty, White Queen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-An abridgement of the classic story that makes it more accessible to young readers, while giving them a good taste of the original. Ross treats his material reverently, abridging Carroll's chattiness, but seldom changing his words. The full-color cartoons are unmistakably Ross's, but they stick closely to the composition and content of Tenniel's original black-and-white drawings, with some additional pictures (the nonsense of the last banquet, for instance, proves irresistible). This version has a modern air with the slightly oversized pages and sly, humorous artwork that fits the illogical craziness of the story surprisingly well. This con-artist Walrus is unforgettable, and the empty oyster shells with feet sticking straight up in the air are most memorable. Although one may occasionally miss the flowing, stream-of-consciousness style of Carroll or Tenniel's quintessential Tweedledee and Tweedledum, certainly Ross has done an admirable job of preserving the spirit of the masterpiece for the younger set.
Judy Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Pruned to something less than half the original (using only Carroll's language), with chess moves, verse, chaptering, and main events intact: an abridgement that may find some use as an introduction, though any child who enjoys it should be steered to a complete edition. It's not true--despite Ross's otherwise sensible introduction--that all the humor is here (where are the ``six impossible things before breakfast''?); but his forthrightly honest approach (even the title page reads ``Abridged & Illustrated by...'' in caps) merits some indulgence, while even purists will enjoy comparing his witty, freely rendered caricatures with Tenniel's elegantly limned art--which Ross's frequently parodies. (Fiction. 6+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (May 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486408787
• ISBN-13: 978-0486408781
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #438,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book in its own right., August 11, 2000

By	James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Through The Looking Glass" is, perhaps, not QUITE as good as "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland", but it's close enough to still rate five stars. Not, properly, a sequel to the first book, there is no indication at any point in it that the Alice (clearly the same individual, slightly older) from this book ever had the adventures in the first one; there is no reference to her previous adventures, even when she once again meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Obviously, the two books are intended as parallel adventures, not subsequent ones.

The most memorable bits from this book are doubtlessly the poem, "Jabberwocky", as well as chapter six, "Humpty Dumpty". But all of the book is marvellous, and not to be missed by anyone who enjoys a magical romp through silliness and playful use of the English language.

(This review refers to the unabridged "Dover Thrift Edition".)

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alice, the pacified rebel, August 2, 2002

By	Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Lewis Carroll sends Alice on a second set of adventures in some territory that is beyond our world. This time she crosses a mirror and enters a game of chess. She will eventually become a queen but she will in all possible ways express her deep desire to rebel against a world that is seen as having too many limitations and frustrating rules. She will in a way rebel against the game of chess itself when she comes to the end of it and pulls the tablecloth from under all the pawns and pieces to have peace and quiet, to free herself of absolute slavery. But what is she the slave of ? Of rules, the rules of the game, the rules of society, the rules of education. Of words and their silly ambiguities that enable them to mean both one sense and its reverse, that enable them to lead to absurd statements and declarations that completely block her in blind alleys and impasses. But at the same time, her return to the normal world that transforms those adventures into a dream, is a rejection of such adventures and of such rebellion as being absurd and purely fantasmatic, dreamlike. There is in this book a rather sad lesson that comes out of this ending : children can dream adventures, can dream perfect freedom, but reason brings them back to the comfortable world of everyday life and submission. And there is no other way possible. This book is pessimistic about a possible evolution from one generation to the next thanks to the retension of childish, childlike dreams, forgetting that the world can only change and progress thanks to the fuel those dreams represent in our social engine.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Soso, December 4, 2008

By	Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Through the Looking Glass: Complete and Unabridged (Puffin Classics) (Paperback)

Though this book is not much better than Alice's Adventures, the chess motif and theme does make the book much more interesting. With the bossy, dominant Red Queen and the quiet, kind, messy white queen, the book is a study in contrasts.

The interweaving of the Nursery Rhyme Characters and the frequent fish poetry references does provide more continuity and a sense of sequential events than Alice's first adventure. I also appreciated the linking of the cat at the beginning and end of the story.

It does still feel like Carroll did way too many opium pipes in his time.

(First written as Journal Reading Notes in 1999.)