Synopses & Reviews
The Reverend Charles Dodgson -- known to millions of readers worldwide as Lewis Carroll -- wrote his classic books Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass in an age of Victorian innocence, when an interest in pre-pubescent girls was considered harmless and hallucinogenic drugs were unheard of outside the extreme underbelly of society. Dodgson's books were largely taken on face value, and assimilated into children's literature where they have remained ever since.
This new edition of Through The Looking Glass includes a revealing introduction by Jeremy Reed, pointing both to Dodgson's obsession with young girls -- he regularly photographed them naked -- and to the repercussions of the book's proto-psychedelic imagery on the acid generation, over 70 years after its first publication. Whether viewed as a metaphor for the bodily mutations of female puberty, or as a covert paean to hallucinogenic drug abuse, Through The Looking Glass remains a fascinating book, and is here presented in its true context for the very first time.
Synopsis
Welcome back to the world of Helen Oxenbury's Alice! An exuberant edition of the Lewis Carroll masterpiece, lavishly illustrated by one of the most beloved children's book artists of our time.Helen Oxenbury's ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND set a new standard for contemporary editions of Lewis Carroll's beloved classic. And now she has illustrated its companion, ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING- GLASS, with equal intimacy, warmth, and charm. Here again is Alice, dressed in her bright blue jumper and ready for adventure like any modern child. All it takes is a bit of curiosity about the room reversed in the mirror and suddenly Alice is in the Looking-Glass world with all manner of comical and magical characters — Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the lion and the unicorn, and a whole game board of chess pieces come to life.
On page after page, Helen Oxenbury's incomparable line drawings, sepia illustrations, and full-color paintings give today's children their own utterly accessible view into Lewis Carroll's timeless nonsense.
About the Author
LEWIS CARROLL is the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898). He wrote ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND for the amusement of eleven-year-old Alice Liddell and her two sisters, who were the daughters of the dean of Christ Church College, Oxford, where Dodgson taught mathematics. The book was published in 1865, and its first companion volume, THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE, followed in 1871.
HELEN OXENBURY is one of today's foremost illustrators. She is the winner of England's Kate Greenaway Medal as well as many other important awards. In addition to ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, her books for Candlewick include BIG MOMMA MAKES THE WORLD, FARMER DUCK, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, and SO MUCH. She says, "I had no plans to illustrate ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, but after reading it again for pure pleasure, I couldn't resist the temptation to try to bring to life the humorously eccentric characters that Carroll created."