Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

By Lewis Carroll

Embark on a journey down the rabbit hole with Alice in this timeless classic by Lewis Carroll. Follow her through a whimsical world filled with quirky characters and curious creatures, where nothing is quite as it seems. Meet the enigmatic Cheshire Cat, the eccentric Mad Hatter, and the imperious Queen of Hearts as Alice navigates through a world of absurdity and chaos. From shrinking potions to giant mushrooms, Alice must use her wit and courage to overcome obstacles and find her way back home. • Iconic imagery and imaginative storytelling• Touches on universal themes, such as growing up, identity, and the search for meaning• Use of language and wordplay is a hallmark of the novel• The novel has been adapted into numerous films, TV shows, and stage productions, cementing its status as a cultural touchstone• Offers a glimpse into the social norms and mores of Victorian England

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fingerprint Publishing
• Release date: Jul 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9789358562781

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865 and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, in 1871. Considered a master of the genre of literary nonsense, he is renowned for his ingenious wordplay and sense of logic, and his highly original vision.

Book preview

1

Down the Rabbit-Hole

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 had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice ‘without pictures or conversations?’

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!’ (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled ‘ORANGE MARMALADE’, but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

‘Well!’ thought Alice to herself, ‘after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!’ (Which was very likely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end! ‘I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?’ she said aloud. ‘I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think—’ (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) ‘—yes, that’s about the right distance—but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I’ve got to?’ (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)

Presently she began again. ‘I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think—’ (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn’t sound at all the right word) ‘—but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia?’ (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke—fancy curtseying as you’re falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) ‘And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking! No, it’ll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.’

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. ‘Dinah’ll miss me very much tonight, I should think!’ (Dinah was the cat.) ‘I hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I’m afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that’s very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?’ And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, ‘Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?’ and sometimes, ‘Do bats eat cats?’ for, you see, as she couldn’t answer either question, it didn’t much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, ‘Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?’ when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, ‘Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!’ She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.

There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.

Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice’s first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the doorway; ‘and even if my head would go through,’ thought poor Alice, ‘it would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only knew how to begin.’ For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find

Reviews for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

[judygibson-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good as always!

[amcheri-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was fun and bizarre and I'm happy I read it.

[laytonwoman3rd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have nothing new or profound to say about Alice's adventures. But the Charles van Sandwyk illustrations in the Folio Society edition are brilliant. He has not so much re-imagined the characters we know so well from the vintage Tenniel illustrations, as simply re-drawn them in his own style, which I love.

[foof2you · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I will never understand who determines a classic! This story is nothing but garbage. A dream. Maybe if I was younger, say 10, then this story might have been funny or interesting.

[ward349 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

5.5. A book about random nonsensical creativity. I get it but i'm not really interested. As a writer and imaginative person i already experience this and this book doesn't strike my interest. Not in the character or story or the nonsensical creative thing

[booktsunami · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ok, I have numerous versions of Alice in Wonderland but this version has a sumptuous collection of classical illustrations along with the text. I couldn't resist it. Apart from some of my favourite illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Charles Robinson the editor/author (Cooper Edens) has collected illustrations from Willy Pogany, Gertrude Kay, Millicent Sowerby, Margaret Tarrant, Maria Kirk...and, of course the original illustrator John Tenniel. There are quite a few other illustrators as well. I guess one would describe them as coming from the "golden years of children's illustrators" . It's a large A4 size publication ....in colour where the originals were in colour and rather well reproduced. Hard not to love it. I give it five stars. (Not because I love the story of Alice but more because I like the illustrations).

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Audiobook. Children's/adult. All of the nonsense made this one one a lot more challenging to listen to, but for trained listeners, would make a great read aloud.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Alice spies a white rabbit with a watch in its waistcoat pocket and curious at such an oddity, follows it down its rabbit's hole into a land full of wondrous and strange things. The classic story is told here by the wonderfully versatile Jim Dale, who seems to have no end of unique and interesting voices in his repertoire. What the tale loses in lack of Tenniel's illustrations, it makes up for with auditory cues. Children who love talking animals and absurd fantasy are sure to delight in this book -- and this audio version of it will appeal to those who love having stories read aloud to them.

[mbmackay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In 2015 The Guardian published a list of the 100 best novels published in English, listed in chronological order of publication. Under Covid inspired lockdown, I have taken up the challenge.Familiar to every child of my generation, this was the first time as an adult that have I read Alice. A lot of fun, and like the best kids movies, there is is something here for the adults as well as the kids - for example the joke based on Latin conjugations.

[merlucito · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wish I read this one when I was little, I'm sure I would loooooove it. As an adult, I can appreciate the story and what it means for literature but it wasn't very enjoyable.

I would reread it eventually so I can take note of every metaphor and all that. Also, it gave me ideas for a new novel (maybe a retelling? Who knows).

Basically, I'm glad I read it, I wish I did when I was 8-9.

[tnaewwf123 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Here is a story I have always heard about, but never got to read or even see one of its film adaptations. I placed it under the banner of 'ILS 516 Modern Fantasy' because just as Young et al. (2020) stipulate, any work of modern fantasy has its author known (p. 148). Since this was around the time I had begun to exhaust the stack of books I checked out before my library closed, I decided to take a chance on the audiobook version for us LION cardholders. I did just that and felt that as good as Scarlett Johansson is at reading this book, it is really disappointing there are no sound effects. See, my personal measuring stick of an audiobook is Stephen King’s The Mist. My dad used to have it on cassette being told with so-called ‘3D Sound.’ This basically meant that the text had sound effects accompany it. So, if a part of the story took place during a rainstorm, you actually hear the rain in the background of the conversations. This made the book literally come to life in a way that could not be achieved from just reading it. I was hoping that because this was a fantasy story, there would be sound effects added too. For example, one perfect usage would have been when Alice falls into the pool of her own tears at the beginning; there could have been the sound of her falling into water. Yet, not a single sound effect is used. Ultimately, even though I really liked the story itself, I am disappointed it did not take advantage of the audiobook format more.

[jessmahler · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The best thing I can say for this book is it is short.

I had a friend who loved Lewis Carroll, I had some time and it was cheap and I figured I'd give it a try. Honestly not sure why I finished. I remember thinking "WTF? I don't know if I can stand to finish this", checking the progress bar and seeing I was already a third of the way through. And just figuring if it was that short might as well.

It never was so bad I wanted to throw it through a wall, but the most enjoyment I got out of it was recognizing scenes from the animated Disney movie. Kudos to Disney for managing to make an engaging film out of this word vomit.

[overthemoon_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oozing charm

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fun book. Not that race makes a difference but I do like that Alice in this book is of "color". Alice in Wonderland is a classic and favorite story of mine. I was on the journey from the beginning to the end with Alice. Young readers will have an enjoyable time looking at the pictures as well as reading this book. Parents will want to check out all of the books in this line by Penguin.

[lkernagh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Delightfully fun, whimsically amusing and what an imagination! Between the outlandish characters, the silly puns and the play with logic, it is easy to see how this book is such a great story for both children and adults. Obviously, a reader needs to love - or at least appreciate - the nonsensical fun to fully enjoy this story, especially given the caricatures and the mayhem that is Wonderland. I can see where some adult readers may revisit this one for nostalgic childhood reasons, but I think I probably appreciate the story more as a adult reader, than I would have reading it as a young girl. Overall, very happy to have finally read this children's classic.

[nodosaurus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I plan to read Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy and thought it might be interesting to reread the book, this time in French. >My first observation was that the translator did a good job and most of the book was translated well - at least to the limits of my memory. Then I did notice some shortcomings, for instance the wordplay in the mouse poem relating the mouse's tail to the tale being told just didn't work in French. However, the translator did include good footnotes. Here, he explained differences in the French and English version. He also added some historical notes that I found added value to the story. This included some symbology that I was completely unaware of. Some of the jokes and puns were, if my memory serves, and perhaps were replaced with new or similar ones taking advantage of the language differences.Overall, it is a quick read, delightful and imaginative and well worth some time spent.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Many of the reviews on this site do not relate to the Salvador Dali illustrated book, but rather to another illustrator. Very Confusing.I love Alice's imaginative adventures and her increasing confidence as she accepts her changing size and bizarre circumstances.Yet, just as I did not enjoy the treatment of animals in a cruel way - the flamingoes, hedgehogs, guinea pigs - when I first read the book as a child and, although I was happy with the final resolution of the Queen and her deck of cards, the constant "Off with their heads!" was and is still annoying.Dali's paintings remain dramatic and an eternal evocative mystery. So good that this book has come to all of us!

[klarsenmd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't feel like the modern illustration fits with the classic work for some reason. Otherwise the images are beautifully done.

[brightman-4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great Illustration

[jerry.yoakum · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good way to introduce a child to the idea that words and sentences can have multiple meaning depending upon the context. A sort of point-of-view pontification.

[deckla_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The problem is this particular edition (Bookbyte digital), which is not complete, and does not include the introductory poems.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Ugh, I hate nonsense books. I get that this is for kids and the whole premise is fun nonsense. When Alice falls asleep she goes down into a rabbit hole and enters Wonderland, a place where everything is fun and nonsense. There is no point to anything and everyone is weird and can you tell how much I dislike this book. There is no plot, just a dumb kid named Alice, wandering around Wonderland talking to animals and packs of cards, playing croquet with flamingos and the like. Totally bonkers.

[ssimon2000-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Okay, so we all know this story, most of us know it very well. It's an absurd children's book, and as I listened, I kept thinking about how much my preschool aged granddaughters would love the overall silliness of this classic.

I listened to the new Audible production performed by Scarlett Johannson. I was very impressed with her ability to change voices, which was so extreme, I wondered how much of it was done in post-production. If it is all her, with no electronic modification, I'm very impressed. Movie directors should be able to utilize her voice skills for so many characters.

At any rate, the rating is primarily from the performance. Surprisingly, I am not a fan of the story at all (I'm not a fan of absurdist literature - it's like bizarro books today: completely senseless). Oh well, to each his own.

I'd recommend this for people who enjoy classic children's literature and for those who enjoy hearing a book skillfully read.

[sumisbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's hard to review 2 books at once. I loved the first book. But I was not impressed with the second. Like many, I've been spoiled by movies so I was very disappointed to find out the Jabberwocky was just a poem. I was also surprised at how young Alice truly is in the books. All-in-all was an interesting read.

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There really is a lot of nonsense in this.

[beammey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I once read Alice in Wonderland when I was younger and I thought it was okay. Not amazing, but okay. I reread it now a few years later in this edition and I think it was the illustrations that did it for me. I really enjoyed the story. The pictures brought so much to the story. I would recommend this edition. 5 out of 5 stars.

[longhorndaniel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

hard to believe i've never read this but wonderful story

[glennbell_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While the story is creative, it is also a lot of nonsense. Albeit is supposed to be a dream, it is rather bizarre. I find it odd that the story has such renown. I mildly recommend this book mainly for the value of being familiar with the story because it is so well known.

[ctpress_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” The Chesire cat to AliceWhat delightful wonderous nonsense. To spend 2 hours and 44 minutes listening to Scarlett Johansson’s joyful narration of "Alice in Wonderland" was like a breeze of fresh air for my overworked brain.“Well! I’ve often seen a cat without a grin… but a grin without a cat! It’s the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!” Is it subversive nonsense? Filled with hidden meanings? Cleverly organised and meticulously metered out nonsense? Maybe…I don’t know - overblown psychoanalytical interpretations kill the wonder of it all - and it’s original intention: The enchanted nonsense of a child’s imagination. As the forever tea party - where Alice ponders:“The Hatter’s remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English.”And it’s certainly a “curious dream” I will revisit again and again. Scarlett, we have a date next year for another 2 hours and 44 minutes.

[mikalina_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Addressing strange and difficult issues as time, size and perspective, transformation and introducing the game theory almost a hundred years before it was presented as a mathematical idea in the conventional way, amongst other philosophically difficult ideas - and then engage children successfully, is a great achievement - leaving the readers of all ages curious about the nature of our existence - as compared to other living matter - as well as the nature of our observation of ourselves and everything outside ourselves. Carroll made a sensible, highly readable, enjoyable story out of (what for most people) is nonsense, no less.Wonderful reading.